Imperfect Lover
by JazzyRocks78
Summary: Natsu completely changed himself and moved state to get a new start for college. He hated who he was and just once to settle down as a new person and find people who like him for who he is now. Lucy loves her life, she has everything. The perfect grades, perfect friends and perfect boyfriend. What happens when these two drastically different people become intertwined?
1. Chapter 1

**I'm returning after a long break with a story that may or may not get finished, really it depends on the response I get on the first chapter! Let's begin.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter One - Matte Black Honda**

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He looked in the mirror, not really admiring his work over the six week break, but appreciating his change from a weak, fragile boy that was treated like a porcelain doll, to a chiselled man that was toned and had even muscle structure throughout his body. He was proud of his transformation and he wasn't going to allow his past to overshadow his hard work, so he moved to a new state to attend college where none of his past self could follow him. He began messing up his salmon locks making sure they were messy but not too messy as to make it seem as if he'd just woke up, grinning like a mad man he exited from the downstairs bathroom and to the front door. He grabbed his black bag on the way there that sat on the table, and straightened out his white hoodie and and patted down his Nike running pants.

He swung open the door to the fresh air that surrounded the town of Magnolia; it gently pressed against his arms and face and the day felt brilliant - today was going to be a good day. He looked up seeing not a cloud in sight, and then walked down from his entrance way to his garden where his Honda sat waiting patiently to be ridden. With a new look and personality came a new ride; his old car was easily classed as an old banger that he'd picked up from the second hand car dealership, but this one literally sounded cool and screamed 'badass' out to anyone who he drove past. He lifted up the soft leather seat, taking out his helmet that had been freshly cleaned the night before.

He took out his phone, his case engraved with his own name, Natsu. He was proud to have his name on his phone for some odd reason, and the case was really tough to remove so he'd know who stole his phone if he saw them using it. He plugged in his earphones and shuffled his 'feel good' playlist. He revved the motorbikes engine; a low, spitting sound came out first then he pressed down on the gas and a loud roar erupted from the bike. As quickly as he had gotten on the bike he had left the garden and began tearing down the empty lane which his house resided on. Happily, he smiled and drove quicker until he reach the end of the lane and quickly returned to the speed limit.

He made a right onto the main road and then followed it for a few minutes before turning left, this led him onto a busy motorway that he only had to drive on for ten minutes. He left the motorway and the honking of agitated drivers and drove down a smaller road for awhile before making two sharp turns, one onto the main road where his college was based and then one into the main parking lot - students where hustling and bustling around trying to enter the main building or go to the fields round the back, all with bags and ready for their induction.

Natsu revved his engine, getting the attention of the people who stood blocking the entrance. They quickly moved allowing Natsu to drive smoothly on through to the motorbike section of the parking lot. There were a few motorbikes there already, all of the were either red and black or just entirely black. He pulled up and took his key out the engine, he took off his gloves and then removed his helmet revealing his salmon hair to on goers. He wasn't really bothered if they talked about his unusually coloured hair, but more if they thought he looked scrawny and weak like he did before.

He got off his motorbike and placed his gloves and helmet inside. He winked at a girl who was gawking at him, making her blush and turn around to talk to her friends while they threw quick and hidden looks his way. Man, he thought, college here is going to be great!

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Lucy made her way into the cafeteria, where her friends had asked her to meet them; but most importantly her boyfriend had returned from holiday and she has missed him like she had never missed anyone in her life. Her blonde, straight locks bounced behind her as she walked with a jolly step in her walk. Her chocolate eyes sparkled as she thought of her friends and her boyfriend that she hadn't see since the beginning of the holidays. They all lived in Magnolia, but she was in student housing and accommodation so when the year ended she had to return home to her father's house in the country side.

She walked through the double doors of the cafeteria and saw the one person she'd ever dated and loved pacing around a table that her friends sat on. She was too happy that she thought nothing could break her mood and she wouldn't let anything break it either. Her life was heading in the direction she wanted it to go - she had a boyfriend that she'd marry in the end, the friends that she'd be old with and still gossip and she'd have the great grades that would see her get a good job to set her up for her future.

"Dan!" She screamed, looking directly at him.

His eyes opened widely and he ran towards her while she ran towards him. He stopped and got ready as Lucy jumped into his arms and held her close. "I missed you, babe. How was your break?"

"It sucked. I wish I could have stayed and had the break with you guys." Lucy pouted. She quickly made her way over to her friends who all looked happy to see her again. "Hey guys, I missed you so much!"

Levy was the short one with light blue wavy, yet short, hair, she always had her nose in some sort of book as did Lucy, that's why they got along together since they were eight years old. Juvia was the one with dark hair that curled up at the bottom, they had met after a high school fire alarm went off and they both bolted out a single door together and got lost outside. Erza was the final friend with long, blood red hair, it flowed gently down her back; they had met at the interview day for attending the college and were both equally nervous about it.

Lucy sat down with them all telling stories about what had happened during the holidays. Levy had visited the UK and met an aspiring author who gave her a free copy of his book that she was totally engrossed with for the entire of the summer break. Erza had taken a fighting class where she thought her training partner, Jellal, was super cute and handsome as well as being a really great fighter. Juvia had simply worked her part-time job at a swimming pool that the guy she had a massive crush on in high school attended. Dan had spent his time saving up money so that he could come with Lucy next time when she went to the countryside.

As the girls talked they were rudely interrupted by a guy yelling loudly in a low, raspy voice: "Don't wink at my girl! She isn't yours to wink at!"

Lucy and the others stood to see what the commotion was about and who would most-likely win the fight if they were to place bets. She was surprised to see a skinny, tall and scrawny guy trying to intimidate a slightly smaller, but much more toned and physically built man. The pink haired man didn't seem to want to cause a scene and tried to get around the taller guy, but he stubbornly moved in the way every time. It was physically possible to see the stress lines in the built mans face as he huffed out in annoyance.

"I don't want to put you on the floor with your girl watching, man, so I'm sorry." The built man said from under his hand as he rubbed his forehead. "You've literally followed me from the entrance to here and you're really getting on my nerves."

He moved to get around again but this time the smaller man was shoved by the taller guy and that's when you could see the thin ice the tall man stood on break and the small stick in the shorter's man head break. The built man took one step forward, to which the taller man threw a punch. The smaller man dodged to one side and then took his knee and thrust it into the other guys stomach. It all happened so fast that if you blinked you probably would have missed one of the two major movements. The taller man fell slowly, his face scrunching up into a tight ball.

Pinky shook his head and stepped silently over the man on the floor. He appeared to be heading in Lucy's and Juvia's direction, who were stood next to each other to get a better look at the fight, and as he got closer he made a slight adjustment and went to the table in front of them.

"Hey, Gray!" The guy smiled perfectly. "It's been a while since the interview day, how you been?"

Lucy turned her attention back to her friends, but Juvia had found her crush and was now absorbed by his existence and presence so close to her. She cuddled up closer to Dan but couldn't help thinking about how good that guy was a fighting. She quickly pulled her attention back to the group, forgetting about what she had just witnessed and enjoying being with her friends again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Dishing out chapters in the doc manager then spacing the time I upload them. Currently writing this one just after I posted chapter 1.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 2 - Cringe.**

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Natsu sat on a round table that had a curved seat around it, like you'd see in the corner of a burger shop, that was placed in the middle of the cafeteria. Slouched across from him was Gray, he was someone Natsu had met when he had come for his interview to attend the college. Natsu had bumped into him when trying to find his interviewer and spilt water on the floor, luckily for Gray he came out without looking like he had wet himself out of nerves. They bickered back and forth until some other guy who was also applying came and got involved; the guy swore at them and threatened them too, so the two boys went off at him and found out they had a few things in common - they liked fighting an incredible amount.

"I've been good, trying to stay in the water and swim for as long as I can so I can keep that all paid for scholarship." Coolly, Gray picked up his bottle of water, uncapped it, then took a large swig from it. "What about you?"

"I just got settled into my new house, rents pretty decent." Natsu bluntly replied, then almost as if a light bulb flickered above his head he leaned forward to Gray. "I was going to put a request on the board for a house mate, but if you're looking for a place to live I've got an extra room. All you'll need to do is buy your own bedding and food and we can go half on all the bills."

Gray thought for a moment; straightening up he cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow. "How much is the rent and bills for me if we split it?"

"$350." Natsu replied quickly. "My dad knows the real estate agent and got a good deal on rent. The bills are included in that. You can move in today if you want - I paid full rent this month so you can just pay me next months and we'll be even."

"Yeah, hell yeah." Gray said enthusiastically. "I've been looking for a place for cheap that's nearby, this seems like a better deal than any."

Natsu nodded and stuck out his hand, Gray reached out for Natsu's hand and they shook on it. They both leaned back in a good mood and enjoying the smell of coffee that filled the cafeteria. Natsu took out his phone and began typing away on it, he had only recently set up his social media accounts and got a new phone number. He placed it on the table and gestured for Gray to enter his details so that he could keep in contact with him, just in case. Gray passed his phone over to Natsu and he also entered his details; then after they had finished they both began talking about basic things, such as lesson they had enrolled in and other things they had done over the holidays since they last saw each other.

They failed to notice a girl shifting at Gray's side, until Natsu noticed she was there, along with another girl who seemed distant and was silently talking to her friends on the table behind Gray. Natsu flashed them a grin and the coughed and pointed towards the two girls. One was a blonde with a big bust and really nice hazel, chocolate brown eyes, the other look attractive as well and had a dull blue colour in her eyes that lit up when she looked at Gray. Very obviously in love with Gray, Natsu thought to himself. he straightened himself up and cleared his throat again.

"Hi." Natsu spoke cheerfully, this brought the blonde's attention back onto the table. "How can we help you?"

"You sound like a customer service line." Gray joked monotonously. "Hey, Juvia. You worked all summer this holiday I think you should have taken a break."

The blue haired girl seemed shy and anxious, she was fiddling with her phone in her hands and kept averting eye contact with Gray. Natsu studied the two girls carefully, and this didn't go unnoticed by the blonde, who seemed to cover herself up more because Natsu was analysing her. He turned his attention away and then back onto the other girl, she seemed like she wanted to ask for her number and the busty girl nudged her but she still seemed too nervous to hand her phone over.

"H-hey, Gray..." The girl stammered out as she played with her phone very obviously wanting to ask for Gray's number. "And y-you too, Gray's friend."

"Hey! I have a name too." Natsu pouted playfully, trying to ease the tension between the four of them. "My name's Natsu, and you two are?"

"I'm J-Juvia..." The girl said, her nerves were not calmed by Natsu's joke as much as he'd hoped.

The blonde looked at her friend with a little bit of pity and then smiled slightly. "I'm Lucy."

"I tell you what..." Natsu said; he grabbed Juvia's phone out of her hands causing her to jump a little. "Gray and I are a little busy, but I'll give you my number and he'll give you his and then whatever you want to talk about, or whenever you want to hang out, you can call either of us, yeah?"

"U-uh, yes!" Juvia nodded her head as quickly as she could muster. She watched as Natsu passed the phone to Gray and he happily filled in the details.

"What about you?" Natsu gestured to Lucy. "You didn't come here for either of our numbers?"

Lucy scoffed thinking that Natsu was full of himself. "Out of respect to my boyfriend I don't take other guys numbers other than the ones I need for my friend group."

Natsu nodded, still grinning widely, he didn't seem all that bothered that she had just denied his request for her number or for him to give her his. "Well I guess we'll be seeing you around! Have a great day!"

Natsu watched as the two left and then Gray turned to him suddenly. "'Out of respect to my boyfriend'" He mocked. "More like controlling boyfriend. How the hell can you be that cringe?"

Natsu shrugged, more interest in another matter at hand. "Do you know that Juvia girl likes you? Or you just the oblivious to the world and girls around you?"

"She what?" Gray's eyes widen and Natsu couldn't help but laugh. But his amusement was interrupted by an announcer asking every to find their allocated seats and make their way to the auditorium.

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Lucy squeezed her way to her seat, which was rows behind where Dan and the others were sitting. She was more annoyed at the fact that she wasn't even placed next to someone she really knew like one of her friends or possibly someone that went her high school. No, instead she was placed somewhere random in the hall, somewhere she couldn't just easily converse with a friend or even escape to the bathroom to. Lucy was placed right in the centre of the middle row, an unlucky place to be. She hated confined spaces and if this didn't count as confined, having no escape routes or a person as a safety blanket, she dreaded to think what 'confined' really was.

She took her seat in between one girl and another empty seat; she made herself comfortable as she could be so that she didn't panic or have a panic attack due to the stress of being in close, confined quarters with some people she did not know. Lucy felt the empty chair besides her move and found herself face to face with onyx coloured eyes. She remembered these from not that long ago as Natsu's - it was hard to forget the look of someone after you denied them something that they had asked for.

"Oh, hey..." He trailed off thinking to himself. "Lucy, right?"

"Yeah." She replied bluntly, not really wanting to engage in any talking at this very moment.

Natsu looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong foot before, I wasn't trying to get your number to ask you out or anything; your friend just looked really nervous when asking for Gray's number. I thought if I got both your numbers it'd help calm her nerves a bit."

Lucy looked at him - she was taken aback by how observant he had been. "You knew she wanted his number?"

"It's pretty obvious to anyone but Gray." He laughed; he was also observing her right now. Natsu saw how uptight she was and how she had almost turned herself into a little ball on the chair and how her face seemed a little too tight. "Are you OK?"

"Just fine." She replied. The lights dimmed low and a man came out onto the stage.

Lucy paid attention for a few minutes, or it could have been some seconds, she didn't know, before the girl next to her decided to spread her legs and arms out and invade Lucy's personal space. She tried moving closer to the other side only to realise she was invading Natsu's space. She began breathing heavily and sweating a little. Natsu noticed and grabbed her wrist. His mother had panic attacks like these when she was in crowded rooms before. He stood up and led her out of the hall, knowing that the speech was going to end soon anyways, and sat her on some cushioned seats outside.

"I'll go grab you a water." He said quickly before running off.

Lucy took out her phone and messaged the group chat: _I had to leave. Panic attack. Outside there's a person here helping me tho. _

She placed her phone in her lap and began to control her breathing; her phoned buzzed and she looked down at it: _You OK babe? I'll be out soon._

She smiled knowing that Dan was going to come outside and her friends would already be making their way. The first to arrive was Levy as she was closer to the door; she looked around but couldn't see anyone with her until Natsu came back with a bottle of water. He handed it to Levy who uncapped it and gave it to Lucy who gulped the whole bottle down in mere seconds. Natsu leaned against the wall coolly, watching as the blue haired girl comforted Lucy.

"Dan will be here soon, he's all the way at the front so he can't just get up and leave." The girl said, she looked up and thanked Natsu silently and introduced herself.

"Dan always knows what to do, he's always here to help me. I'm so thankful to him." Lucy sighed happily. Natsu coughed feeling unappreciated.

"I did help, you know." He said bluntly. "While your boyfriend was sat at the front I brought you out here and I ran and got you water. Was I not helpful?" He said it in a joking tone, but Lucy took it seriously and narrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Thanks, I never said you didn't help, I just meant that my boyfriend would have helped more." Lucy said in an apologetic tone. "And... um... you and Gray can hang out with us tomorrow if you want? I need to thank you in some way."

"Just don't be cringe with your boyfriend, that'd help me out a lot." Laughing, Natsu placed a hand on her head then removed it and began to head out the door. "See you tomorrow!"

"Juvia will text you and Gray the details!" Levy shouted, waving as Natsu exited the building.


	3. Chapter 3

**Currently trying to churn out chapters so that I can post them and keep regularly posting even when I haven't wrote a chapter in awhile.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 3 - Lost in Transit**

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Natsu woke up to the sound of grunting and swearing. Sleepily, he removed his light blue blanket from his body and turned to the right and looked at the clock on his bedside table. It was currently 10:31 am, a rather late time for Natsu to wake up as he usually went for an early morning jog and work out, but last night he had spent many hours into the morning helping Gray move in his things and rearrange his room. His muscles ached and his head pounded from all the yelling Gray had done the night before. Now he had to wake up to that again in the morning? Natsu was not going to have it.

He swung open his wardrobe and grabbed a shirt quickly to shove on, then made a quick bee line to his bedroom door and pulled it open. He turned left and walked a few steps, the turned left again to be faced with Gray's door. He banged on it a couple of times, still hearing the profanities that Gray yelled like he was passing sweets out sweets to his friends - so many, many sweets. Natsu turned the door handle and pushed open the door with one finger; he causually leant against the door frame watching as Gray scrambled to collect all his clothing off the floor and then root through.

"Lost something?" Natsu asked annoyed, he watched as Gray turned towards him and acknowledge his existence. "You loud freak."

Gray scoffed, not liking the tone Natsu had taken with him. "Sorry to wake you from your beauty sleep, but we are supposed to be meeting Juvia and her friends today."

Natsu scratched the back of his head; smirking and laughing lightly he looked at Gray. "You're seriously having trouble picking out some clothes to go meet them in? I thought that was just a girl problem."

Gray picked up his trainer from the floor and threw it at Natsu, who blocked the shoe with his arm and kept laughing. He quickly told Gray he was going for a run but he was going to wash and brush his teeth first. Gray just waved him away, still annoyed at Natsu for saying what he did. Natsu turned away and walked into the bathroom; he got his tooth brush and began running the tap as he placed the toothpaste onto the bristles. He brushed for a few minutes before turning off the tap and getting a cloth to wipe his face with.

He was already in shorts and a shirt, so he didn't really need to change until he came back. He put on some ankle socks and his shoes and then left out the front door, grabbing his phone, keys and earphones as he left. He quickly put on his work out playlist and then left to run to and around Magnolia Park. He paid more attention to the floor for the few minutes it took to reach the park and then he stretched quickly before beginning his run.

He jogged to the middle of the park, where a giant fountain spewed out water in a glorious manner. It was a statue of a woman with a mermaid tail and holding up a bucket that the water then poured out from. He was quite intrigued by the fountain until he heard a faint voice yelling, although it sounded like a whisper with Natsu's music on, for a dog or something. He took out one earphone and looked to where the yelling was coming from. He was surprised to see a familiar face with a unfamiliar look of worry on it.

"Lucy?" Natsu shouted out, putting his hand up in the air alerting her of where he was. She looked at him, narrowed her brows, then made her way towards him in a hurried motion. "You alright?"

Lucy shook her head frantically. "My dog ran off." She placed her fingers on her temples and rubbed in a slow motion. "You haven't happened to see a white dog have you? He's quite small and waddles side to side. I was taking him to a dog minder while I go out for today and he ran off."

"I haven't..." Natsu trailed off looking around, he felt uneasy seeing Lucy worried like this, just as he had when she had a panic attack the other day. "I'll help you look for him. What's his name?"

"No I couldn't ask for your help, you have things to do today too." Lucy spoke quickly, she began to jog away looking around frantically.

Natsu jogged up to her and grabbed her wrist. "Look I can't just let you go look for your dog yourself - this is a big park. What's his name I'll look around too."

Lucy looked down at her phone, a text from Dan telling her to just leave the park and come back so they could group up and look for her dog together. She unlocked it and texted back that she couldn't do that. Natsu watched her, she looked as if she was about to cry and that was unsettling.

"His name is Plue." She spoke softly. "Dan said to go to him and we could look for him."

Natsu shook his head, not agreeing with what Lucy's boyfriend had said. "If you go back he'll just get further away and that'll make it harder for you to find him. He's probably gone off into the woods, come on."

Natsu tugged on her wrist, pulling her into the forest where they both shouted his name. Lucy squeaked Plue's favourite toy in an attempt to draw him closer to them. They reached a clearing with a large lake; the sun shined and glistened off of it making it all the more beautiful to look it. It took both their breaths away, but only for a few seconds before Natsu made a sprint to the lake.

There in the lake where Natsu was sprinting to, was a little dog splashing around. His head bobbed under the water and back up before it sank back down. Lucy screamed as she watched her dog try to stay afloat desperately. She too began charging towards the lake preparing to dive in and save her dog, but Natsu was one step ahead of her. Lucy watched as her dog sank below the surface; Natsu flung off his shirt, dropped everything in his pockets and dived in head first into the lake.

He closed his eyes on impact, but quickly opened them after he was submerged. He saw the little dog fighting for dear life to swim up to the surface, but it was effortless and it just sank down further. Natsu swam under the water towards the small, white dog. He reached out and grabbed it, then headed to the surface to allow the dog and himself to breath.

Lucy watched, tears trickling down her face. Although to Natsu it had been a few seconds, it felt like it had been hours before Natsu appeared at the surface of the lake holding up Plue like the scene from the lion king. She breathed a sigh of relief and moved closer to edge of the lake where Natsu was wading over too. He passed Lucy her small dog, who barked with excitement like it wanted to do the whole thing again. He watched as Lucy cradled the small dog closer to her chest and attached the dog lead to Plue's collar.

Natsu pulled himself up out the water and Lucy watched, noticing his abs and his tanned skin tone; she blushed, looked away and then picked up Natsu's shirt and gave to to him, still not looking at him. Natsu chuckled a little at her reaction, finding it rather amusing that she was so flustered even though she had a boyfriend. He shook his head letting the beads of water swing off of his salmon locks and onto Lucy.

"You're more of a wet dog than Plue!" She screamed scrambling to her feet to try and get away from a wet and drenched Natsu.

"I think you should be hugging the guy who just saved your dog." Natsu smirked. "Not offending him."

He opened his arms wide and chased Lucy around, with Plue happily joining in on the chase and barking in glee. They eventually stopped when Lucy said she'd buy his food when they went out today, not realising that it was almost time for them to meet up with the rest. Natsu bent down and began petting Plue on the head and scratching him under his chin and belly. Lucy bent down too, their heads almost touching, till she realised Natsu was still shirtless.

"Put you damn shirt on!" She yelled, giving him a slap on the back while laughing with a small blush covering her face.

"It shouldn't bother you, you have a boyfriend." Natsu smirked back lifting his head and looking into her brown eyes. "Or does that make you want to look more. I mean I'm sure Dan is strong but he's not as good looking as me, right?" Natsu joked as he stood up and pulled all sorts of poses that would show off his muscles and face.

Lucy and him laughed a little before he held out his hand and helped her up. "I'm glad we found your dog, you looked terrified and sounded it when we found Plue."

"He's the last thing I got from my mother before she passed away." Lucy spoke softly, glancing down at the little dog that tried chasing its own tail.

Natsu was about to speak but was interrupted when he saw Gray, with Juvia and Lucy's friends, running up the hill at full throttle. Natsu let go of Lucy's hand that he'd been idly holding while they spoke and moved two steps away from her, which she mouthed 'thank you' to him for doing so. It took them a few seconds to reach the hill, but Dan immediately went to Lucy's side and began checking to make sure she was alright.

"Why didn't you come back? We heard you scream we thought someone or something had done something to you." She looked at Natsu, who smiled and began straightening out his shirt. "Why is he shirtless? What were you two doing?" He asked angrily.

"Plue was drowning." Natsu said bluntly, pulling his shirt over his head and sticking his arms through the shirt. "I jumped in and saved him."

"More like you're trying to steal my girlfriend!" Dan moved closer to Natsu in a threatening way, but he was smaller and look slightly weaker than Natsu.

Natsu scoffed. "If I wanted your girlfriend I would have done more than save her dog."

"Hey, stop fighting." Lucy stepped in between them placing her hand on Dan's chest to push him away slightly. "Look we're all meant to be going out today and I need to thank Natsu for saving Plue, so can we please be civil? Nothing happened."

Natsu looked at Lucy, then back at Dan. He smiled at Lucy again, who sighed and was getting ready to tell everyone to go, but Natsu spoke before her. "I don't go and hang out with self-conscious, jealous and controlling boyfriends just because I'm friends with their girlfriends." Natsu took another step back seeing the hurt in Lucy's eyes and the anger in Dan's. "You guys go have a fun time, I don't want to ruin it by breaking someone's nose."

Natsu began walking away, not before Dan yelled. "I'll kill you!" To which Natsu laughed loudly and waved goodbye to everyone else.

When he reached the exit of the park his phone began to buzz, he saw a text from an unknown number: _Thank you for saving Plue. I really hope I can pay you back sometime, but it'll have to be without Dan so he doesn't get angry. Thank you again, but you didn't have to act like an ass when you're actually a nice guy._

Natsu scratched his head and typed back: _Your boyfriend is the ass. He thought the worst of you when you hadn't done anything other than thank me for saving your dog. You should rethink who you're dating, he's not good for you. Toxic. _

He placed his phone back in his pocket, which was still damp from his dive in the lake and walked for a little bit before another text came through, but it wasn't from Lucy, but a group chat he had just been added to full of Lucy's friends and Gray, but neither Lucy or Dan. A girl named Levy had sent the message: _Dan and Lucy. Big fight. She ran off somewhere and everyone is looking for her. Natsu could you join in? She headed in your direction._

He replied back: _I'm on it. What did they argue about?_

Juvia replied back quickly, like she was lightning fast at typing: _She didn't like the way Dan treated you because you saved Plue and also he didn't seem that bothered that Plue was in danger. He just called it a 'damn dog' and 'not that important'._

Everyone was thinking it - Dan's an ass.


	4. Chapter 4

**Last chapter felt super long, came out at like 2,300 words. I'll try to shorten them down a little.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 4 - There is a Difference**

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Natsu took out his phone, after being told that Lucy wasn't picking up anyone's calls, she might pick up his. But that might just be wishful thinking, he though to himself. He'd been walking around for hours with no luck, it was his last choice. He clicked on Lucy's message bar, then went into the contact information and pressed the call button. It rang a few times but then the ringing stop - she picked up. He sighed softly down the phone, only to be met with a hushed sniffle.

"Where are you? I'll be the stranger you can confide in." Natsu chuckled; he was trying to lighten the mood, to make her at ease, but he wasn't sure it was working.

"Stranger? I guess you are." She sniffled again, he could hear the rustling of tree leaves and a slight breeze. "I mean I just fought my boyfriend of a year because he treated you badly, I guess you're a friend more than a stranger."

"I'm a sexy friend." Natsu laughed and he could hear Lucy lightly giggling in the background. "You know, Dan is a complete ass and like I could totally kick his ass for making you cry, like totally." Natsu mocked the classic girl who was ready to fight at any moment.

"Totally." She sobbed down the phone. "I love him, we just argue about things sometimes. I didn't like how he treated you."

Natsu kept walking while Lucy talked about the ways Dan had spoken about Natsu once he had left and he sighed. She must have been really upset about the comment regarding Plue. Natsu wasn't quite sure which direction to head in once he was in the woods, so he listened out for Lucy talking and could faintly hear her to his right.

"I don't need you to fight your boyfriend to defend me, I can fight him myself." Natsu sighed, he liked the gesture of Lucy defending him because she thought Natsu was a nice guy, but it'd only serve to make Dan angry. "It'd have only made him angry."

"So angry that he broke up with me." Natsu could see Lucy now, she had her head buried in her leg and he blonde hair was flowing behind her back. He hung up the phone and watched her speak to herself. "I guess he's mad at me too."

"I'm not mad." Natsu spoke softly, crouching down beside her and moving her hair behind her ear. "He's stupid if he broke up with you because of that. You could defend a hundred guys but if you were mine I wouldn't be such an ass as Dan is about it."

Hearing that didn't really bring Lucy any comfort, Dan was her boyfriend, not Natsu. Although Natsu was charming and kind, he was still a stranger to some extent; she knew nothing of his past and had only known him for two days and for those two days he came across as egotistical, compulsive and short-tempered. But he had some good qualities including that he was nice, caring and loving as well as being easy on the eyes. It had taken her a whole year to know Dan truly and six months after to accept his offer of dating. She wanted her life to be perfect, now it had been broken her peace was coming to an end and her plans came crashing down like a building in flames.

"You know, Dan may not be perfect but he's the guy I love. You can't just call him ass because you don't like him." Lucy furrowed her eyebrows at Natsu, now being annoyed at him as he was talking about Dan the way Dan had talked about him.

"He's not perfect for you. There's a difference." Natsu shrugged his shoulders, he had taken offence to Lucy snapping at him. "I thought my ex was perfect when we started dating, then I noticed her flaws. I thought, 'maybe she's not perfect, but I love her' but in the end her flaws outweighed how much I loved her. She wasn't perfect for me even with her flaws."

"I don't get it." Lucy replied bluntly, utterly baffled by Natsu's words. "Are you saying that he's not a perfect match for me but someone else might be for me? No one is perfect."

Natsu sighed. "You'll figure it out, just for now look at Dan like he isn't perfect, like his flaws exist and be honest. His flaws will either annoy you so much you stop loving him, or make you realise he's human and you'll love him more for that."

"So..." lucy trailed off. "You're ex didn't seem human to you?"

"She offended me a lot. Mostly on certain aspects of myself that I didn't like and when she did that I just thought I wasn't doing good enough. I realised, eventually, that it was her that wasn't doing good enough."

They sat in silence for a few minutes - Lucy was twirling some blades of grass around in her soft, delicate fingers and staring absent minded at the ground. Natsu was kicking the dirt with his foot, he could feel the wet of his shorts on his legs and knew that if he didn't warm himself up soon he'd become ill. He looked at Lucy, then looked at his phone. It was a little past five o'clock in the afternoon at this point and Lucy had seemed to bring herself back to a normal state of mind.

"When I first started dating Dan he was nice." She spoke softly. "He didn't care if I hung out with guys as long as he knew. But one day he just deleted every guys number from my phone and told me never to meet with them again. I can't even go see Levy and her boyfriend."

Natsu sat down next to her. "Maybe you really do love Dan, but you need a break to figure yourself out." He held out his hand and ushered for her to give him her phone. "I'm going to block Dan, just until we start college, to give you some space. Don't try to move on or forget him, just try to think about what you want in the future and if he can give it to you."

Lucy nodded. "I'll be going home now." She took her phone from Natsu and he stood next to her and gave her a hand up.

"I'll walk you back, can't have you running off again. Man, your friends have been going crazy about where you are." Then he remembered and pulled out his phone. "I should let them know I found you and I'm walking you back home."

He began typing away on his phone: _Found her. Taking her home now._

They walked in silence till they reached Lucy's house, they spoke no words, just waved goodbye to each other. Natsu began his journey home, wishing that he didn't get ill as he went.


	5. Chapter 5

**Exams suck, unless you're an exam person who likes studying, which I am not.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 5 - "Are you stupid?"**

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Lucy woke up late, she hadn't really been sleeping too well as she had a lot on her mind, mainly about Dan and Natsu's advice to her. She actually hadn't spoken to Natsu for a few days and now they were one day away from college and one day away from Lucy facing Dan, which may go incredibly well or drastically wrong. However, with Natsu's advice she'd been able to hang out with Levy and Gajeel again and she'd even third wheeled on Gray and Juvia's 'date' which consisted of Gray asking for help to pick a paint colour out for his room. She smiled at the few fond memories she had with them, but she was upset and angry too. If Dan loved her, truly loved her, then why hadn't he come to see her and talk things out with her.

She had hatched a master plan; she wanted to see who would turn up for her first out of everyone she knew and where Dan would turn up with the rest of them. They had a social media group together, on Instagram, where it was mostly Gray sharing inappropriate memes and one of their other friends stalking Natsu's, Gray's and Jellal's profiles - her name was Lisanna - and pointing out where they looked sexy and where they looked like trash. Natsu didn't take kindly to that as she idolised his newest photos and then trashed talk his other ones. But he never said a word, only put emoji's like he didn't actually care.

Dan was in there too; one time Gajeel called him out when he was stalking the group chat when I was talking in it with my girls. He simply wrote 'shut up' and went offline and didn't come back on till everyone else had gone off. From what she knew, everyone lived about the same distance away from her, if not closer, and would come to her aid if she asked for it. But she wanted to see if Dan would be first and if he wasn't she wondered who was.

She still loved Dan more than anything, but she was doting on Natsu's words about Dan being the right one for her. So, with her plan in mind, she began typing on her phone in the group chat knowing that everyone was online: _Guys, I think someone broke into my house._

Immediately, Levy and Gajeel were the first ones to type: _Stay in a locked room Gajeel and I are coming over now._

Erza sent in a voice note of her running while talking quietly to say that she was coming and that if anyone laid a finger on her, they'd suffer the consequences. Lucy hated lying, but this wasn't the first time she'd pulled a prank like this to make them all come hang out. She giggled to herself wondering what their expressions would be like when they came in and saw the widescreen TV on and food laid out neatly on the coffee table.

She sighed and sat on the couch, waiting for the first person to arrive at her door. Outside she heard a loud revving of an engine, it got closer and closer to her house, which meant it got louder and louder until it seemed like it was right outside her door. She had left it slightly open so that anyone could get in when they arrived. She sat under a knitted blanket and waited for whoever it was to barge in through the door.

She watched as the door sprung open and almost flew off its hinges, but she wasn't surprised at that, she was surprised to see Natsu stood in the door frame. His eyes were wide with worry and the wind caught his dress coat and hair making them float gently to one side. She opened her mouth to speak, but Natsu moved suddenly towards her and pulled her into an embrace, one that she was very confused about and actually shocked over.

"Are you OK?" Natsu asked, worry was present on his face as he studied her carefully - then he looked around the room. "Wait, what is going on?"

Lucy was utterly shocked and it took her a moment to get herself together and speak, he had literally taken five minutes to get here. "Surprise! I wanted to get everyone together but they'd make excuses if I told them to just come over."

"Are you stupid?" Natsu asked, his tone was laced with annoyance. "Do you even know how worried I was? I thought Dan had sent someone over and wanted to play hero, or that someone genuinely wanted to rob you and your house."

He still had his hands wrapped around her when she heard hushed yells coming from outside. "Dan, go in first!"

Natsu couldn't hear them, but Lucy could. But she couldn't tear herself away out of his grip and something about it just eased her. She let out a cry that she'd been holding back for the last few days and broke down in Natsu's arms. On hearing the cries, all the people who were outside pilled in the door; they were ready to fight with bats and a pair of nunchucks hoisted at the ready - the nunchucks were Erza's. Natsu was shocked, in the other group chat he had promised to stay away from Lucy so that she and Dan could try to work things out between them, but when she wrote what she did he instinctively drove like a madman without his helmet to get her, to save her.

"Lucy, babe..." Dan spoke softly, she heard his voice and softly push Natsu away. He let go and looked at her eyes for a moment; she looked at his and simply nodded. He let his arms drop to his side and stepped away. "Let's talk."

"Yeah." Came a door from the voice, everyone was shocked to see a man in an officers uniform, even Lucy was. "Sorry to interrupt, but can we speak with the owner of the Honda outside? Driving like a lunatic is one thing, but without your helmet is another."

Levy looked at Dan pointing at the officer to ask if it was his, but he shook his head no. Then Erza spoke out. "Whose stupid enough to not even put their helmet on?"

"That would be me." Natsu huffed and he turned around. "Any chance you could not phone the number from last time? My dad almost came down here to kick my ass himself, Officer Dreyar."

The officer laughed. "Last time you just drove on the pavement, this time you went and put your life in serious danger. You want to give me a reasonable explanation for that or did you just come drive at 150mph to hug some chick."

"I'd drive at 150 to hug you, Laxus." Natsu chuckled stretching out his arms and waddling over to Laxus. "Come on, give e a hug."

"Get outside before I arrest you, Dragneel." Laxus said ushering Natsu out the door.

* * *

Lucy and Dan sat with a space in between them, still not sure if they were on good terms or not. Everyone had been silent for the whole hour that Natsu had been outside until Levy broke the silence.

"He drove at 150 with no helmet on because he thought you were going to get hurt?" Levy spoke out awkwardly. "Romantic or idiocy? What do you think Erza."

Erza tapped her finger on the chair for a few seconds before replying. "I'm not sure. While it seems romantic, he could have easily gotten himself killed. I don't know him that well, but he seems like the type of person that would do anything to help a friend."

"You're right." Chimed in Gray, who leaned forward as he talked. "Two days ago I got lost at midnight and I woke Natsu up. He punched me in the gut when he saw me, but came and gave me a lift home straight away."

"Also, I think that he really meant it when he said he'd give Lucy and Dan some space to figure things out, but when he heard Lucy was in danger he forgot all about what he had promised and sped here like crazy." Juvia spoke quickly, everyone's eyes widen, except Lucy and Dan's who became confused.

Erza clamped her hand over Juvia's mouth before she could say anything else, but Lucy had already heard everything. "Natsu said he'd stay away from me? Why?"

Gray sighed, the secret was out. "The girls thought you'd get confused if Natsu kept putting his two cents about Dan in and then you two would break up for real. He didn't want to be the reason, because then Natsu thought that meant you'd be mad at him."

Dan then spoke up. "Could you guys go upstairs so babe and I can talk?" They all nodded then left upstairs, but Levy, Erza and Juvia decided to ease drop and hang out on the stairs. "So, you and Natsu?"

Lucy gulped, she wasn't really sure what to say, or how she felt about her hug with Natsu. "There's nothing going on between Natsu and I."

Dan nodded. "Didn't look like it." He bluntly replied, looking at his hands in his lap. "I understand he's new and interesting, possibly mysterious, but you can't cheat on me or leave me for that guy."

Lucy began to get mad, she stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "How come you always think of the worst in me? You haven't noticed how loyal I've been to you for the last year? I am just some stupid girl to you that will leave for the next hotter guy that looks at her?"

Dan stood too now, getting angrier by the second. "So now you think he's hotter than me? You think he's better than me?" He got closer to Lucy, right up in her face, and that's when Levy and Erza were going to jump out. "I'm the best you'll ever get-!"

Natsu opened the door, his eye were dark and he looked like he was about to kill Dan. "You should leave." Natsu growled. "Guys like you don't deserve loyal girls like her."

"You don't deserve her either." Dan spat moving from Lucy to get in Natsu's face.

"I never said I did because I don't think about who deserves what." Natsu spat back. "I only care about what people feel and right now I think she-" Natsu said pointing at Lucy. "-feels like shit and wants you to leave. So leave."

Dan had enough of listening to anyone, he shoved Natsu and then went to swing for him. Natsu got clipped in the chin by Dan's punched and could only hear Lucy crying out for the violence to stop. He didn't want to make her mad at him or anymore upset. Dan went to swing at him again with his left hand this time, but Natsu saw that coming and grabbed it; Lucy pleaded for no one to get hurt. Natsu grabbed Dan by the neck and shoved him around till he was facing the door. He dropped Dan's fist and used both of his hands to turn Dan and shove him out the door. Dan tumbled out and got ready to charge back in, but Natsu swiftly slammed the door shut and locked it. Now Dan was left banging on the door.

Natsu sighed and leaned his forehead against the door; he turned and look at Lucy. "This is my fault. I'm sorry. If I hadn't of helped you last week then maybe you wouldn't be in this mess."

Lucy sat down on the couch. "No. You were right, I'm stupid." She looked at him. "He's not perfect for me."

"You'll find someone - and when you do they'll understand that other guys are your friends and they're just trying to help." Natsu sat down next to her on the couch and the rest of her friends came down one at a time. "Let's have some fun before college starts, yeah?"

Lucy nodded. She'd start college without any toxicity and even though her life wasn't as perfect as it was her friends were.


	6. Chapter 6

**Me: *Is currently saying UwU and annoying everyone* Enjoy the story.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 6 - Bet**

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A phone began to buzz, that's why Natsu woke up first. He was grouchy and still felt sick from the amount of hot wings he had ate the night before; he felt as though his head was about to explode due to a painful headache that he got from being hit on the head by Erza and Lucy all night. Natsu looked at the table and saw that it was all the phones buzzing at the same time that had caused him to wake up. He reached out to the table and picked up his own phone, it was the group chat on Instagram.

None of the messages were really coherent, but they were all from Dan. He looked like he had gotten drunk and been angry in the beginning typing 'how could you do that, I'm the only thing you've got' and then became sad and depressed typing 'come back to me, I didn't mean it'. Natsu looked up seeing Erza awake and reading the messages. It was about two in the morning and the messages just kept on coming through.

"It looks like he's coming here." Erza yawned, she stretched herself out and then began typing, but not in the group chat. "We should wake up the others."

"No." Natsu whispered, not wanting to wake Lucy who slept next to him. "I'll go outside and send him away."

"I know one of his friends coming with him, Jellal, he'll help you." Natsu nodded and stood up slowly then headed to the front door. "I'll come with you."

They both grabbed their jackets off the pile of coats that had gathered in the corner and made their way outside into the midnight chilly air. Natsu hunched up his shoulders and held his hands closer to his mouth to keep them warm. He wasn't particularly fond of cold weather, but he was built to deal with it by having a warm body temperature constantly. He looked at Erza, who was still playing with her phone, noticing a slight blush and smile on her face.

"You like this Jellal guy?" Natsu smirked s he teased Erza. She blushed violently and shook her head even more so. "Sure you don't."

"I don't we're just close friends." She lied, although the lie was too obvious for Natsu not to notice.

"You went on a date with him?" Natsu asked, she took three steps back with wide eyes and shaking her head again. "You didn't tell any of your friends either, did you?"

"I-I have n-no idea what you're talking about." She stammered stubbornly.

Natsu moved in front of her, ducking around her arm that she used to push him away. "You two are secretly dating?" He watched as her face became bright red and he eyes closed tightly due to embarrassment. He made an over the top gasping noise and moved away slightly. "I can't believe you didn't tell them."

Erza could feel herself going to hit Natsu again, but was stopped when two familiar people to her walked up the drive way. One was very drunk and the other had blue hair and a birthmark covering one of his eyes. Dan kept almost falling over and Jellal kept straightening his friend back up and leading him in the right direction. Jellal seemed to scowl at Natsu, and then soften when he looked at Erza.

"Look!" Dan yelled in a whisper. "It's the girlfriend taker."

Natsu moved in front of Erza and then stopped Dan from trying to enter the house. "She doesn't want to see you. Not after what you said or did."

Jellal moved in between Natsu and Dan. "Look, he's sorry as hell for what he did. But you can understand right? You came out of nowhere and his relationship breaks down. Any guy would be weary of you."

Natsu looked at Erza behind him. "Are you weary of me taking her, too? She's literally abused me all night. My head is pounding - you can keep her." Erza kicked Natsu in the back on the legs, a warning for him to shut his mouth before she shuts it for him. "I didn't steal Lucy, she chose this herself to leave Dan. Now Dan should choose to leave."

Erza stepped out from behind Natsu and touched Jellal's arm. "Please. Lucy doesn't want to see him again. She's too hurt to even say his name. When Lucy was begging for there to be no violence, Natsu was the only one of the two of them who didn't fight." Jellal look at her, his eyes becoming quite soft at her touch. "I would want you to do that if I was begging."

Jellal nodded and grabbed Dan. He didn't say a work he just pulled him away while Dan yelled like a drunken fool. Natsu ushered for Erza to get inside before the cold gave her some kind of illness.

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Lucy woke up to the smell of pancakes. Oh boy, did she love pancakes and she knew that Levy and Gajeel made them the best. She jolted straight up on the couch and looked towards her kitchen and she saw Gajeel in a apron with wet hair and Levy sitting on the counter with wet hair too. She knew they had showered together and it didn't really bother her that much. She got up slowly and walked up the stairs, she noticed, as she was leaving, that everyone was downstairs apart from Natsu. She looked at Lisanna huddled up on a chair with a blanket and saw Gray and Juvia sort of cuddling together. Erza was leaning against a wall with her jacket placed over her.

She waded up the stairs, noticing that Plue had cuddled himself up to a shirt that was on the ground and began sleeping on it. He must have dragged that from somewhere, she thought to herself while going up. She eventually made it to the top and was faced with the bathroom door. She took one step forward, but when the door swung open suddenly she jumped backwards. Natsu looked at her wide eyed and then watched as she almost fell down the stairs. He reached out his arm and grabbed one of her flailing wrists; he pulled her in close to his naked chest.

"Um..." Lucy stammered, feeling the muscles in his abs and chest and he held her. "You're kind of naked."

He quickly moved away and looked at Lucy, who saw that he had pants on, then dived back into the bathroom to find his shirt. "Where's my shirt gone?" He asked himself.

Behind Lucy was Lisanna. "I don't think you need a top on, you look good like that. But here it is." She threw his shirt at him that an angry Plue followed after.

Natsu ignored her comment and put his shirt on; looking at Lucy he began to talk. "Something happened while everyone was sleeping. Erza and I..."

"Did you have sex with Erza?" Lucy asked, her voice was laced with anger and a tint of jealousy.

Natsu put his hands up in defence. "No - Gods no!" He exclaimed, placing his hands on her shoulders to reassure her. "Dan turned up in your garden drunk with Jellal, Jellal wasn't drunk and took him away after Erza begged him to. I just thought you should know."

Lucy nodded, not really sure what to make of it all. She grabbed Natsu's wrist and apologised to Lisanna for them going so suddenly. She pulled him into the room at the far end so that no one could hear them. Her heart was beating a little quicker, but she thought that was just because she was about to talk to him about something that she'd had on her mind and it hung heavy on her mentally and physically, it had made her restless in her sleep. Lucy checked to make sure that no one was coming to the room and then shut the door and turned to Natsu, who stood dumbfounded in the middle of the room.

"Listen." Lucy began, twiddling her hair around her finger. "Before you came I thought everything in my life was perfect. But then a week ago it all came crashing down and it wasn't because of what you did it was what you said and I'm not sure whether to hate you or to thank you or do something else..."

"It's OK, you can say that you want me to leave you alone for a bit, I'd completely understand." Lucy began waving hers frantically in front of her.

"No!" She interrupted him quickly. "I wanted to make a bet with you." Natsu raised an eyebrow and listened intently. "If I can stay strong and not go back to Dan will you do anything I want you to do."

"Sure." Natsu smirked. "Nothing is off bounds so I'll be prepared to go cliff diving for this. Will one year be enough?"

"Yes, I think so." She smiled happily with a giddy bounce in her step. She was totally going to win that bet.


	7. Chapter 7

**Glad to see the support on the story. Makes me happy knowing that my writing hasn't gone to crap after my long break.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 7 - I Can't Get a Date**

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Natsu scratched his head, walking out of his chemistry lesson. His hand was cramped from the two pages of fully explained notes he had taken, in his neatest handwriting so he could read it later and revise from it, and he was really annoyed that all his other friends had a relaxed lesson, whereas he was forced to write eighty lines of formulas and chemical compounds. He sighed out in agony while pulling out his phone to continue his conversation in the group chat with Levy, Erza, Gajeel and Gray. He quickly told them that he'd come outside and find them soon after he'd bought something to drink.

He looked up, only to be faced with a perky, brown haired girl with a cute face. "You're Natsu, right? We're in the same chemistry class." She giggled lightly.

Natsu grinned back at the girl, knowing that she was going to ask for his number. She hadn't been the first one today. "Hey, Clare?" He guessed.

She put both of her thumbs up and came besides him, peeking over at his phone then at him. "Where you going now? I was going to offer to hang out with you. You looked kind of lonely and distracted in chemistry."

"I'm just going to find my friends, not one of them took chemistry and they all had a pretty relaxed day." Natsu said, opening up the double doors for her to walk through into the cafeteria. "Where are your friends?"

She smiled flirtatiously at him, putting a delicate finger onto her red lips. "I don't know, I think they left while I waited for you."

"Oh, you waited for me?" Natsu joked, slightly flirting back. "I must be one lucky guy then."

She laughed a little louder this time, placing a hand on his arm and looking at him. "You've got surprisingly big muscles."

Natsu laughed inwardly to himself. This girl was attractive, he gave her that, but she was a horrible flirt. "My work requires strength."

The two joined the queue to the snack bar; Natsu pulled out his wallet and began getting some change out to buy his bottle of water and snack bar. Clare picked up a bottle of Cola and began getting her credit card out to pay at the till. She nudged Natsu and then pointed to the end of a queue, where his familiar blonde friend was having a heated argument with a very familiar, ass of a guy.

"Do you think one of them cheated?" She whispered. Natsu looked around and saw mostly everyone was ease dropping on their conversation.

"Sorry." Natsu said, he gave her an apologetic look. "Could you pay for these while I go deal with that?" Clare nodded - she liked a guy who helped others.

Natsu jumped over the wall that was used to separate the queues for the snack bar and food bar. He saw Clare walking up to the till and pay for their things in the corner of his eye, but his mind was very focused on Lucy and Dan arguing openly in the cafeteria. He made a bee line straight towards Dan, which didn't go unnoticed by Jellal who patted Dan and pointed in my direction. Natsu saw how Dan was holding Lucy's arm, stopping her from getting away.

Natsu came over to Dan and grabbed his wrist painfully hard; Dan winced in pain slightly and loosened his grip on Lucy, who instantly pulled herself from his grip and gathered herself together quickly. Natsu let go a shoved Dan into Jellal.

"How about you leave Lucy alone, you drunken ass-hat." Natsu seethed, getting in Dan's face who seemed equally as pissed.

"How about you stay out of my business, Natsu. If you didn't come along here then I would still have a girlfriend - you stole her." Dan spat in Natsu's face.

"Maybe she realised what's good for her." Shoving Dan again, he began to intimidate him into throwing a punch. "Maybe she realised someone else could treat her better than you had."

Before Dan could throw a punch Lucy stepped in between them both. "You're both acting like children!" She screamed, she placed her hand on Natsu's chest pushing him away from Dan more. "Natsu and I aren't dating, but he made me realise I need someone in my life that treats me better than you do, Dan. Natsu, let's go outside."

Natsu glared at Dan and looked between him and Lucy for a minute. "You got lucky this time."

Natsu turned around and followed Lucy to the door - he saw Clare standing there gawking widely. She passed him his stuff that he had asked her to pay for. "Sorry. Didn't realise you had a girlfriend."

Natsu groaned as he watched her walk away and Lucy laughed slightly. "You think this is funny?" He asked pointing at Clare who was walking away quickly. "I can't get a date because of you. Maybe you'll just have to date me instead to make up for the damage."

"Get over it." Lucy joked. "I'm sure you'll do fine dying alone."

Lucy began to run away outside; she was laughing intensely. Natsu chased after her, determined to make her regret saying that he'd die alone.

* * *

Gray sat in between Juvia and Levy, with Gajeel sitting beside Levy on the edge of the bench. On the other side of the table sat Erza and Natsu at either end and Lucy sat next to Natsu in the middle. Lisanna had recently left for a lesson, so now there was a uneven amount of people on either bench. Natsu sat teasing Lucy slightly and stealing her fries which she had just bought. Gajeel was watching Levy as she read a new book that she'd borrowed from the library and Gray was talking to Juvia in a hushed voice. Lucy didn't mind the silence it was peaceful, however, she had noticed how close her and Natsu were and only now found it slightly increasing her heart rate.

Natsu watched as Lucy squirmed slightly next to him. He was obviously making her uncomfortable but it didn't bother him much, in fact, he enjoyed it a little - how he made her flustered slightly. His new personality of being a knight in shining armour was doing OK and he generally found himself easing into his newfound confidence. Although testing in on Lucy seemed a little mean and rude, now considering that he didn't want to hurt her and considered her a really close friend, but he couldn't stop now. He was too into his flirtatious teases and the way he felt like a real knight when he saved her from danger.

Yes, it was a little cliche, but Natsu didn't care. He felt truly like a new person when he was helping her and talking with her. Now that he had new friends he felt like he'd reformed himself from who he once was. He didn't want to ruin anything - so he was taking it slow, as slow as it could go.

"Lucy stopped me from scoring some girls number earlier, now she thinks Luce and I are dating." Natsu pouted, looking at Lucy with fake hurt in his eyes. "The she said I was going to die alone."

Lucy rolled her eyes while Levy joined in on Natsu's teases towards Lucy. "Wow, Lucy. That's so mean and hurtful of you to say. I'm surprised Natsu wants to even sit next to you."

Lucy scoffed. "It's not like he was going to die alone any way, it wouldn't happen."

"Oh." Natsu perked up a little bit and turned on his side to face Lucy. "Are you saying you'll fill up the void in my life that you made. Oh, how you've made me the happiest man!" He exclaimed opening his arms wide and scooping Lucy up and out of her seat and twirling them around.

"I'm so happy for the happy couple." Levy clapped while laughing, along with Juvia and Erza who had begun chuckling beside them. "Will we be invited to the wedding?"

Natsu placed Lucy on the floor, who was still laughing from the surprise hug and spin Natsu had gave her. "Of course, Levy. I would love to have you as one of my best men." Natsu said jokingly.

Gajeel and Gray started making noises in disagreement while Lucy smacked Natsu on the chest. "Natsu, she'd one of my maids of honour and it'll be at a wedding where you're not the groom."

Lucy clambered back into her spot on the bench and turned around to watch Natsu dramatically fall to the floor on one knee and hold his heart. "My heart! My soul! They are shattered." He cried in fake sadness. He stood up and bowed as Gray, Levy and Juvia gave him a round of applause.

Natsu realised he had been a bit childish, like he was in his past, and wasn't being the cool and bad boy acting guy he had told himself he would be, but he couldn't help himself. Maybe it was because these people actually accepted him like his ex had, but it wasn't just her that accepted him and everyone else detested him and ridiculed him, this time everyone accepted him. He sat down on the bench next to Lucy, and place both his arms on the table.

Lucy plugged in her earphones and shuffled her playlist, Natsu took one of her earphones and placed it into his ear so he could listen in too. He listened to a few songs that he didn't know too well, or that he didn't know at all, until one song came on that he knew really way and had listened to a lot. He began to bob and tapping his hands on the table. Lucy raised her eyebrows and watched as Natsu got really into the beat until it hit the pre-chorus.

"You can't take me anywhere, anywhere. You can't take me anywhere, anywhere." Natsu sang in a nice clear tone, everyone being shocked by how he could sing when he didn't seem like the type that could. "I'm still uninvited, I'm still uninvited. I'm going insane and I don't care."

Natsu unplugged Lucy's earphones and stood on the grass beside the table and began to show off his dance moves that he'd learnt the year before he came to Magnolia College. He grabbed Lucy and pulled her up too and danced in front of her.

"Dancing! Dancing! Dancing's not a crime unless you do it without me, unless you do it without me!" Natsu sang, everyone loved how upbeat and childish Natsu was and began to join in slightly.

Levy got up with Juvia and began to dance with Lucy while Gray and Gajeel laughed at Natsu dancing. Natsu walked away and sat between Gajeel and Gray laughing as he watched the three girls dance and then watched Erza get up and join them.

He spoke in a hushed whisper to the two guys, unaware of Levy listening in on them. "Do you think she's happier than when she was with Dan?"

Gajeel nodded. "Dan stopped her from hanging out with me, we were pretty good friends before too." He whispered back.

"Good... Make sure she stays happy while I go home for a bit in a couple weeks." Natsu said in a hushed voice staring off into the distance. "You didn't know me before a week ago, Gray knew me slightly longer, but I've not really changed much."

Natsu watched as the girls sat down and Lucy paused the music, he continued talking, but so everyone could hear him. "I tried to make myself into this cool guy that people would like more, wasn't really liked much back home, but I'm acting more like myself than I ever did there. Any way, I have to go back there next month to pick up some stuff from my dad."

"Really?" Lucy asked, staring at Natsu with her doe eyes. "Can I go with?"

"What?" Shocked, Natsu blinked a few times. Then he had an amazing idea. "Honestly, my house there is pretty large, so if everyone wants to go we can. It's in the holidays too, so I guess that's a plus."

"Hell yeah!" They chorused, Natsu laughed and heard the bell.

They all got up and went their separate ways, but they were going out tomorrow evening together so it wouldn't be long till they saw each other again.


	8. Chapter 8

**I really like how this story is going, which means I've been brainstorming a lot and thinking intensely about where this story should go. I've gotten a few idea which should be good.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 8 - You're confessing? Here?**

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Natsu pulled up his Honda into his and Gray's garden. Gray's car was parked on the right side of the drive way, while Natsu parked his Honda on the left. He turned off the ignition and took off his helmet; running his long fingers through his hair with one hand, he placed his helmet in between his legs and pulled out his keys with the other. He took a deep breath and then got off his bike and carried his helmet inside, opening the door and putting his keys in the bowl and helmet on the side he called out for Gray who grunted from upstairs.

Gray came down the stairs and grabbed his keys out the bowl when Natsu was drinking water. "Going to pick up Juvia before we go out, her car broke down."

Natsu ran to the door before Gray could shut it and leaned against the living room door frame, looking at Gray. "Did it? Or is she just trying to get some extra alone time in your car? Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Natsu teased quickly before hearing the door slam shut.

Natsu slung off his top into the washing machine and fanned himself a little with his hand while he clambered, very slowly, up the stairs and into his room. He opened up his wardrobe and looked for a fresh shirt, he needed to go clothes shopping soon, he thought, before grabbing a plain white tee and some black running bottoms. He took his jacket off of the corner of his bed and hung it up and chose a new one that had no sleeves and was black with a white zip.

He picked up his phone from his bed and looked at the time - he still had a couple minutes before he had to leave to go to the entertainment centre. He went into the bathroom and washed his face quickly before heading downstairs to put on a wash with his and Gray's dirty washing in. He took out an apple from the fruit bowl and leaned against the counter taking quick, large and hurried bites from the juicy apple. He threw the core in the recycling bin and got his keys and helmet in his hand ready to go.

He felt his phone vibrate inside his pocket and quickly but he helmet down. He looked at the caller ID and answered the phone immediately.

"Hey, Luce, what's up?" Cheerily, he began to open the door getting ready to leave almost immediately.

"I need a ride, do you have a spare helmet?" Anxiously, she waited for Natsu to reply.

"Yeah, I'll be round in five." Natsu was about to hang up when he heard Lucy shout down the phone.

"Don't speed again!" She said worriedly. Natsu smirked and told her he wouldn't and hung up.

Natsu went back into the house and into the back room, picking up a little case that could attach to the back of his motorbike that had the spare helmet inside of. He grabbed his own helmet on top and dropped it on the grass outside while he locked the front door. He picked up both the case and his helmet and quickly attached it to the back of motorbike before putting his helmet on and driving, at a reasonable speed, towards Lucy's home.

When he made it there, Lucy was outside wearing a strapless, tight fit and white top and cream coloured shorts. Natsu took off his helmet and admired the view with a smug smile on his face. This didn't go unnoticed by Lucy who walked towards him and punched him in the chest.

"Don't look at me like that." She said sternly, crossing her arms and putting on an angry pout.

"If you didn't want me to look at you like this you shouldn't have dressed like that." Natsu teased sticking out his tongue. He took off his jacket and looked down at his gas meter. "Put this on."

"Why?" Lucy questioned incredulously, taking the jacket any way.

"If I look at you like this that means guys are going to be staring at you all night while I try to enjoy my night out." Natsu said bluntly, looking at Lucy, who had a slight pink tinge in her cheeks. "I don't want to kick another guy's ass for flirting with you when you don't want it or acting like an ass like Dan."

Natsu reached behind and opened the case and picked out the helmet. He handed it to her and she took it and put it on and climbed on the back. She took a few seconds to get used to feeling and then to get comfortable. After hesitating, she reached out and grabbed Natsu's side. Natsu laughed a little, letting go of the clutch and grabbing her hands to bring them around his body. She immediately drew her hands back to Natsu's side. Suit yourself, he thought while outwardly laughing.

He revved his bike and used slightly more speed than a normal take off, making the bike jerk; Lucy instinctively wrapped her arms around Natsu's toned stomach and pressed herself, all of herself, into Natsu's back. Natsu sped up and drove carefully through Lucy's street and then he hit the main road. He went onto the right side of the lane and began to drive down the empty roads. Lucy loved the feeling on the wind hitting her and brushing against her arms.

Soon they pulled up at the entertainment centre and Lucy clambered off first. Natsu too Lucy's helmet and placed it into the case on the back and also put his in too; he took his keys out and placed them inside his pocked and looked at Lucy.

"Were late." Natsu smiled, motioning for Lucy to go inside. "So why did you need a ride."

Lucy and Natsu went inside and she cleared her throat. "I didn't need a ride, Levy was going to give me one but I wasn't ready yet. She said she'd wait but I said I'd just call you."

Natsu smirked. "So you wanted some quality time with me? You should have said. I'll kick Gray and and you can come spend the night." Natsu teased moving closer to her a nudging her. She playfully pushed him away and they eventually made it into the arcade area.

It was like a theme park, but without the rides and all the people bumping into each other. It was full of colourful prizes and classic games, like hook-a-duck and the muscle man machine. Lucy looked around, her eyes were sparkling with amazement. Natsu saw the gang and pulled Lucy out of her awe and towards them; she hugged the three girls and waved at Gajeel and Gray, but then Erza waved and Natsu got really confused.

He turned behind and saw Jellal making his way. "You didn't tell me he was coming." Natsu said, gesturing towards Jellal who finally made it over.

"Last minute thing." Erza said, apologising quietly to the group that she hadn't made them aware.

"So..." Jellal began. "I know some of you don't like me, being friends with Dan and all, and I was slightly hostile towards Natsu when I met him for the first time, but I really want to get along with you guys, for Erza's sake."

"Why for Erza?" Everyone question, except Natsu who already knew why.

"Because I love her." Levy gasped and fell back into Gajeel and Lucy began smacking Natsu with the back of her hand over and over asking if he heard the same thing she did.

"You're confessing here? Really?" Natsu inquired, giving the classic 'what the hell' hand sign. "At least have some class, like out on a date or something. Look at her she's clearly out of it now."

Natsu waved his hand in front of Erza's face, which snapped her back to reality. "Me too." Quickly, almost too quick to be heard, she replied. "I mean, i love you too."

"So now you've finally told everyone you're dating can we go now?" Natsu question and then Levy turned on Natsu and began smacking him in the back.

"You knew?" She said in between smacks in an annoyed voice. "And we didn't? Her best friends?"

"To be honest, I guessed when I first talked about Erza with Jellal, it was pretty obvious." Bluntly, Natsu scratched the back of his head, then got hit again by Levy.

"It's not like we didn't know, we just wanted her to tell us herself, but instead you guess and confront her and you get told." Erza watched as Levy scolded Natsu and then laughed a little.

"Sorry. I should have told you sooner." She grabbed Jellal's hand and then turned "Shall we?"

Natsu was the first to move into the arcade. He was like a child, Lucy thought while watching him move ahead of everyone else. Soon everyone was acting like a child and the fun had only just started.


	9. Chapter 9

**This is going to be one long story, wowza.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 9 - That One!**

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Lucy watched as Natsu picked up the sledge hammer. He had looked over at Lucy when he saw the machine and bet Lucy some ice cream of any choice and any value if he could make it to the top. Lucy had egged him on to do it, saying that he'd never do it because his muscles were just for show and not for actually doing anything with. Natsu then told her to watch carefully how a real man does things and she said she'd go somewhere else then. After all the teasing between them, Lucy had laughed it off and pushed Natsu in the direction and scratched the back of her neck and played with her feet against the floor.

Natsu hoisted the hammer above his head, showing off to the crowd of girls that had gathered around him. He brought it down with one, singular swing, smashing it onto the small hit box. Lucy watched as the small, little ball flew up and smashed the top of the target. The woman in charge was clearly taken off guard by how strong Natsu was, but Natsu turned to Lucy with his arms wide open in the arm like a godly being.

"You owe me ice cream!" He screamed playfully pointing at Lucy, causing some of the other girls to get jealous and snarl. "And you owe me your number."

Lucy watched as Natsu strode his way over to a pretty looking brunette who had her hand out waiting for Natsu to give her his phone. Lucy looked down at the floor and turned away looking straight forward and leaving Natsu. Natsu saw this and as he was about to hand the girl his phone he put it back in his pocket; he looked at the girl apologetically and jogged up to Lucy, who moved pretty fast.

"Where are you going? Jealous?" Natsu joked, nudging Lucy slightly, who simply brushed him off.

"Aren't you going to flirt with her a bit more? Or text her?" She snapped passively. She didn't mean for it to come out that way, but she would have liked more attention on her than some other girl he'd only just me.

"I didn't get her number in the end because I wanted to come to you." Natsu smiled, noticing how Lucy had pouted and snapped. "I'd much rather have your number though."

Lucy looked back and saw the girl looking at her; she knew Natsu was trying to make her feel better by showing the other girl he had chosen Lucy over her. She took Natsu's phone out of his hand and typed in something into his notes page and then closed it quickly, so that Natsu would think she was fake typing. Lucy smiled and Natsu grinned widely back, happily he took his phone back and then his grin turned into a smirk.

"Oh, my love!" He emotionally spread his arms out wide and then clutched his heart. "How you have made me the happiest man by gracing my phone with your number." He put the phone close to his heart and stared at Lucy in an over dramatic, love sick, but fake, way. "I'll text you every morning and every night for ten thousand days."

Lucy smacked him on his shoulder playfully. She saw Levy and Gajeel with Erza and Jellal a few metres in front of them and she bounced over to them linking her arms into the two girls. Natsu put his hands in his pockets and came to a stop in between Jellal and Erza; he nodded at both men and then looked at the floor for a few seconds before looking up again.

"We've been here a couple hours. It's like nine now." Jellal said, looking at his watch and then back at everyone. "We should go get food soon or something, shouldn't we."

"But I haven't won anything yet!" Lucy pouted, she began looking around for a stall that had anything that she liked on it. Erza and Levy looked like they wanted to pull her away but couldn't bring themselves to.

"You four go find Gray and Juvia and meet us back here." Natsu suggested, even though it sounded like a command. "I'll win something for you, Luce, let's go."

The four nodded and left to find Juvia while Lucy was still looking around, until her eyes locked onto a small snowman with four legs. She moved towards it like a magnet to metal and stared at it. It was one of the best prizes you could get on one of the hardest games you could play at a theme park. Natsu looked at her and he knew he had to get it.

"How much?" Natsu inquired to the guy in charge. The guy shoved two finger up in the air and Natsu passed him the money.

Natsu stared at the milk bottles stacked up like a pyramid. He hated this game since he was a young child, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. He picked up the first ball and used all his might to throw it at the middle of the milk bottle. The top three milk bottles toppled off, as well as the one on the right side. He saw Lucy staring at him with wide eyes and also looked around to see that Gray and Juvia had shown up with the rest. He picked up another ball and aimed it at the centre bottom. His ball curved slightly and took out the two bottom bottles, as taking out the ones on top. He looked at the last milk bottle like it was his mortal enemy, then with a hard swing he threw the ball straight at it and everyone watched as the bottle twirled around on its edge. Natsu watched intently, then saw the bottle fall forwards and threw his hands up in the air as he cheered and the others clapped.

"Good job, son. Which one would you like?" The man asked gruffly.

Natsu looked up at the weird looking dog-snowman thing and pointed at it. "That one, please."

The man passed it to him, which he then passed to Lucy. She flung her arms around him and the quickly let go as she stared at the big, plush teddy with glee.

"I'm going to name you Plue Two." Happily, she walked towards Levy, Erza and Juvia showing it off, always saying 'Natsu's so good at games!' at the end of every sentence.

The group gathered together and decided on a place to eat, which was in the same building as the entertainment centre, and made their way there. Natsu caught a glimpse of Lucy every once in awhile when he was talking to the guys; he'd smile and laugh to himself wondering why she was so excited over some weird teddy, but it was cute in a weird way.


	10. Chapter 10

**So, think at this point, I've only recently posted chapter 2 when writing this chapter. So, I'm definitely ahead of the story and on top of everything so far. Lets hope it keeps up.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 10 - Partying**

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After two weeks of going out, hanging out and staying in, Natsu finally found his self with a weekend without his friends. Surprisingly, he wasn't that bothered about it as he thought he'd be; he'd actually been invited out to party for Saturday night and was currently walking up the pathway of a big garden, filled with red paper cups and drunk students, to a door that was ajar and had music blaring from it. He pushed it open a little and was surprised to see how packed the house was with students and people.

Natsu wandered around through the living room and the dining room until he found the kitchen and the girl he had been looking for. He strode over to her looking her in the eyes and she waved happily at him and came to meet him. He was faced with Talia, a girl he'd recently met after college. He had bumped into her and made her fall over, then he had helped clean up her stuff that she'd drop and apologised. They ended up really hitting it off and exchanging numbers.

"Hey, stud!" Talia joked while throwing herself into a hug, which Natsu returned.

"Hey, Tals." Natsu winked at her after she pulled away and put his hands in his pockets. "Seems like a really lively party."

Talia laughed, finding herself drawn closer to Natsu's warmth and strength than before. "You don't like it? I had to find some way of meeting you again."

Natsu laughed lightly and shortly. "Asking me out on a date would have been good enough. Not really a party person."

Noticing Natsu's discomfort, Talia interlocked their fingers and dragged him outside into the backyard. It was small and quaint, which meant there were about two or three people out there getting away from the noise and the booze and just clearing their heads for a second before going back inside to party. Natsu noticed that the moon was full and the stars were much brighter than usual; he looked at a little garden patch placed in the corner of the garden that had a singular rose bush inside. It was so minimal, yet really beautiful and well-kept that it made him feel at ease.

"Would you have said yes if I asked you on a date without getting to know me first?" Talia asked, looking up at the stars. Natsu shrugged and she giggled. "Let's ask each other questions then. You start."

"What's your favourite colour?" Nastu looked at Talia while she thought intensely.

"I'd have to say purple." She looked into Natsu's eyes and smiled. "Favourite song?"

Natsu laughed thinking back to his song and dance with Lucy and the others. "Dancing's not a crime."

"I've never heard it." She moved Natsu's and her hands back and forth between them.

"Last relationship you had?" Natsu inquired, wondering if Talia had even had a boyfriend or gone on a date before.

"Two years ago I think." She smiled nonchalantly. "How many girls do you hang out with? If we date I'd like to think there's no potential problem."

"You mean like in general how many do I hang out with in my social group, or how many do I go out with, as friends, just the two of us?" Talia thought for a second and quickly implied that she meant both. "Well, about 5, minus Lisanna, she doesn't hang out with us much. But on my own with just another girl? Just one."

"Oh, are they all in relationships?" Talia asked, obviously forgetting about asking each other questions.

"Three are, Lisanna isn't really my type and Lucy just broke up with her boyfriend because he was an ass." Natsu looked at her with a smirk. "You know, you said ask each other questions, but you didn't let me ask one."

He turned to her and had a mischievous grin plastered on his face, one that looked devilishly handsome. "What do you want to ask?" Talia flirtatiously said grabbing his upper arms.

"Last kiss?" Natsu inquired.

He made a swooping motion slowly down to her lips. He watched as she closed her eyes and removed her smile slowly, so Natsu did the same. He got closer and closer, their lips about to touch - a loud ringing came from Natsu's pocket that startled the two apart. Natsu looked down and coughed slightly, before motioning that he was going to pick up the phone to a blushing Talia, who simply nodded. He grinned and took his phone out. 'Luce' popped up on the screen with a picture of the two of them pulling faces.

"Hey, Luce." Natsu said, clearing his throat and nervously flicking his other fingers. "Listen, I'm kind of busy now. Can it wait till later? Or?.."

Natsu heard Lucy take a large breath in down the phone, before breathing back out again. He looked at, a now puzzled, Talia. "No it can't wait. I'm lonely and everyone has date night except me and now I'm sort of wishing I'd worked things out with Dan. I've also drank a bit and lost my charger, so could you bring me yours?"

Natsu gave Talia an apologetic look and mouthed that it was going to take longer than expected. "You drank? Why do you even want date night? It's over rated - hanging out with someone is much better, isn't Juvia free?"

"Juvia is on some kind of late night shift for a club meeting at the swim club she works at, code for letting Gray enter the swimming pool at night." Natsu sighed, not really sure what to do as he looked between the ground and Talia. "I'm lonely, Natsu!" She whined.

"Okay. Okay..." Natsu nodded his head repeatedly in a bobbing motion. "I'll come round in twenty minutes, don't do anything stupid, Luce. I mean it."

Lucy hung up the phone on him and Natsu looked at the screen before placing his phone back in his pocket and looking back at Talia. "So, I guess your friend who you hang out with by yourself sometimes wants you to go round?"

"Yeah, she's a little drunk and is lonely." Natsu walked towards her and touched her arm with one hand. "I'll call you sometime, yeah?"

"Yeah, sure." Talia pouted. Natsu didn't feel compelled to stay, but he did feel bad.

He jogged around through the back gate and Talia followed him. He hadn't brought his bike, so he reached the sidewalk and waved goodbye quickly, then began jogging towards Lucy's house as fast as he could. Talia sighed, she wished Natsu would have stayed, but how could she compete with his friend who'd been there longer than her? At least he'd call her, she thought to herself, making her slightly happy, before heading back inside.


	11. Chapter 11

**Currently I've learnt the F.U.N song on ukulele from Spongebob. Worth it? Yes. Needed? No. Hotel? Trivago.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 11 - Cheers**

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Gray stood outside Lucy's front door. He'd stepped out for a moment after she'd drunkenly to Natsu to get him to come over and look after her - he was shocked at her reasons and even more shocked that Juvia had said that no one in their little girl group knew about it. Lucy was afraid that Natsu would stop spending time with her if his attention was on other girls. He remembered Lucy sobbing not even half an hour ago: 'he'll like some other girl and I'll get jealous and he'll leave just like Dan did.'

Juvia had swore him to secrecy, but he couldn't watch as Lucy became twisted and conflicted inside herself over her own feelings and feelings that Natsu, even though unaware of it, had caused her to feel. He rubbed his hands together to warm them from the bitter cold night air. Tiredly, he watched the gate and eventually saw Natsu jog through it. The salmon haired man's warm breath mingled with the cold air. Gray nodded his head in acknowledgement while staring at Natsu's confused face.

"I thought Lucy said no one was coming over?" Natsu questioned, scratching the right side of his head with his left hand, then wiping the sweat from his forehead with it.

"She wasn't." Gray coughed a little to clear his throat. "She's afraid you'll ditch her for some other girl."

Staring at Gray with a straight face, Natsu shrugged. "Guess I'll have to wait on the dating front then. I mean it's not like I was planning to date them anyways."

Gray and Natsu chuckled, then Gray shifted to the side a little to allow Natsu to lean against the wall with him. "You can't be serious? Ditching dating for Lucy just so she won't get upset or hurt? You're more of an idiot than I thought."

"What about you?" Natsu smirked while laughing a little. "You had loads of girls want you because you're the top swimmer under 21 in the country, but you stopped hanging out with them for Juvia?"

Gray blushed quite hard, he began coughing loudly from shock, then spoke after he'd settled his self down. "Juvia is a nice girl, not like the ones that throw themselves over me."

"She does that literally everyday?" Natsu laughed. "Or have we been living in two different dimensions?"

"Shut up." Gray muttered under his breath with some profanity after it. "I like her, but she's too clingy to date right now, she needs to calm down a bit before I consider it."

Natsu was about to speak again, but was interrupted by the front door of Lucy's home opening and a dark blue head of hair popping out. She smiled before bouncing over to Gray and grabbing hold of his arm. Natsu pointed while mouthing 'see, told you so' and smiling at Juvia. Natsu left the wall and began walking into the house, Gray and Juvia following shortly behind him. He looked around, but found Lucy huddled in a blanket on the couch, with tortilla chips and spicy dip, and watching the not cartoon version of Beauty and The Beast.

"Mind if I join?" Natsu asked, but quickly stole Lucy's blanket and began eating her snacks. "Have you sobered up a bit?"

Lucy nodded, secretly shuffling closer to Natsu's warmth, looking at Gray and Juvia. "Sorry I lied to you. Must have wanted you to come join in on the fun."

Natsu smiled lightly, knowing it was a lie. "It's fine. The party wasn't that good anyways. There was no one pretty there."

Lucy muttered a smiple 'oh' before taking back her snacks and beginning to eat them slowly as the movie played. It wasn't even an hour into it when Juvia and Lucy both went out like lights and were sleeping for the night. Gray wasn't having much trouble with moving Juvia into a comfy position, but Natsu - oh boy - was he having trouble. Lucy wouldn't stop squirming. She ended up hitting him in the face three times before Gray and Natsu worked together to take her to her bedroom upstairs.

"How is it so hard to take one blonde upstairs!" Gray whisper-yelled at Natsu, who had hold of Lucy's feet.

"It's never been this hard before, let me tell you." Natsu said with wide eyes and sweat coming down his face.

"Seriously? You want to talk about having sex with blondes here?" Gray questioned, slightly annoyed as he tried opening Lucy's door with his elbow.

"No!" Natsu whispered back, feeling his hands slipping from around Lucy's legs. "My ex was a blonde - maybe. She kept dying her hair not really sure what her original colour was."

Gray eventually got the door open. Quickly, Natsu and Gray moved in sync and placed Lucy on her bed. Gray put his hands on his thighs, then he shook his head and left out of Lucy's room. This left Natsu to out Lucy into bed. He took a deep breath in and out, then another one just to be safe, before moving Lucy to one side of the bed and opening the blanket. He rolled her gently into the bed, putting the blanket over her and than looked at her sleeping face before he left.

"Sorry..." Lucy mumbled in her sleep causing Natsu to smile. "Jealous... other girls..."

Natsu breathed in deeply, nodding his head to himself, then left closing the door lightly behind him. He came downstairs to find Gray opening two beers that he had pulled out of a box on the side. He gestured a beer towards Natsu, to which Natsu nodded yes to, then sat down at the counter in Lucy's kitchen. Gray placed it beside Natsu while sitting down next to him.

Natsu was about to take a swig, but then stopped himself. He looked to Gray and pulled the bottle away from Gray's lips before he could drink it. "A toast? To Lucy."

Gray laughed loudly, but only for a few seconds. He raised his beer, as did Natsu. "To Lucy." Gray said.

"May she never drink again in her life." Natsu laughed while putting the bottle to his lips and tilting it up.

"I'll drink to that." The two men laughed while drinking.

They talked for a couple hours after that, just about some basic things, then some teasing on Natsu's part towards Gray and his feelings towards Juvia. Gray retaliated, claiming that Natsu loved Lucy and how he'd abstain for her. They kept the noise to a minimum, afraid of waking up the two sleeping girls, but that didn't stop them from fighting and having drinking contests till they were both slightly drunk and then deciding to sleep for the night.


	12. Chapter 12

**F is for friends that do stuff together. U is for you and me. N is for anything and anything at all, down in the deep blue sea. The end does not make sense to me 'anything' doesn't start with 'n'.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 12 - Plot Twist**

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Lucy and Levy sat in their creative writing class, very distracted. They weren't distracted by each other - but instead by the substitute teacher that stood at the front of the class who was teaching how to portray character development in writing. Currently, the class was in a heated debate about how to portray madness in books and roughly how long it should take to show madness. However, everyone who was a female and not actively involved was thinking about the hot teacher - Igneel.

Levy slid a piece of paper onto Lucy's book, she opened it up and was glad Levy was thinking the same thing as her. 'Teacher is smoking, shame none of our guys are like that. Joking!' Lucy laughed a little, looking up at the teacher who pushed back his hair that was stuck to his forehead. Lucy wrote back 'he's a little too old for my liking, but definitely hot. What are you packing to go Natsu's hometown tomorrow?'

She passed the note back to Levy and took some notes on what Igneel was saying about insanity and madness being portrayed in madness and even gave them a quote from one of Lucy's favourite books showing that the character was going crazy and insane after all her past lovers had left her in the same way. Levy threw the note onto Lucy's book and she opened it: 'I'm glad we agree on something. It's meant to be really warm so I was thinking of taking shorts and loose tops.'

Lucy was about to continue writing, but the bell went and Igneel excused the class saying he had to pick up his son to take him and his friends home. Lucy placed her books in her bag and looked at Levy to her side. "If I wear anything skimpy and guys hit on me again Natsu might seriously end up hitting one of them. I'll just have to sweat all week."

"Would you two just date already? Or at least hook up?" Levy giggled, teasing Lucy and nudging her in her ribs.

"So?" Levy questioned. "Gajeel used to bully me. Two weeks later we were dating."

"That's because he was bullying you because he liked you and didn't know how to tell you." Lucy and Levy began to walk out the classroom engaged in conversation. "Gajeel didn't get random girls numbers and make out with them. Plus that Talia girl that came over to him like two weeks ago is apparently who he likes."

As if proving her point, they wandered into the canteen and saw Natsu and Talia very obviously flirting in the lunch queue. Talia had a bottle of water and a sandwich, whilst Natsu had nothing and appeared to just be there to give her company. Lucy groaned and sighed deeply - she walked over to Jellal, Erza, Gray, Gajeel and Juvia and slumped in her seat leaning on Gray with all her weight.

"Why does your idiot friend..." She began pointing at Jellal, Gray and Gajeel. "Think it's OK to just flirt with other girls."

"Because it is?" Jellal answered honestly and rather confused, causing Erza to smack him in the arm lightly. "Was that not the right answer?"

"No." Gajeel cleared his throat and straightened up as Levy began eating his food. "Bunny girl over here is just jealous and heartbroken."

"Seriously? I'm jealous and heartbroken. I don't like him I just got out of a long term relationship with Dan." Lucy scoffed, also stealing some of Gajeel's food to spite him.

"Because of Natsu." Gray chimed in, he began moving his shoulder to make Lucy uncomfortable and get off him. "If Natsu hadn't of come here then you would have still been with Dan and none of us would really be sitting together."

"Maybe I'll just hook up with the hot sub from creative writing." Lucy signed, unaware of Natsu and Talia who had only recently sat down.

"What? The sub wasn't hot, that's gross." Everyone was startled at Natsu, who began making puking faces and coughing at the thought.

"He's hot." Lucy said stubbornly, not making eye contact with Natsu but eyeing Talia up and down and scoffing.

"He's not." Natsu's serious tone caused all light laughter and talking to die down. "My dad isn't hot, it's weird if you think that."

"That was your dad?" Levy yelled suddenly, total and utter shock coursing through her. "I thought he looked familiar to someone."

"Why is it weird if I think that?" Lucy refused to look at Natsu while she started an argument out of nowhere with him just because Talia is there. "I can think anyone is hot and it shouldn't bother you. But it bothers you every time."

Natsu cleared his throat and looked at Talia. "Could you go for a second? It's kind of like an inside thing and they don't know you well enough yet." Understanding, Talia left and smiled sweetly at Natsu and everyone else. "Should we go talk?"

Lucy licked her lips, took a deep breath in then let it out as she stood. Natsu stood and the rest followed, they were going to make it not seem weird or awkward, as it had been last time Lucy and Natsu had an argument, however that was over food. They all walked in silence out into the field and to a big oak tree that stood in the middle of the plain field.

Natsu put his face in his hands and rubbed up and down before taking them away and looking at Lucy, he looked at his friends and saw that they weren't close enough to hear. "I know you get jealous when I'm with other girls. You talk in your sleep when you're drunk."

Lucy turned on her heels and faced Natsu, he face was red with embarrassment but she still looked rather annoyed. "If so then why does she have to hang out with us all the time?"

"I like her." Natsu spoke softly, moving towards Lucy, who moved away. "As a friend."

"What about you getting annoyed and mad when guys hit on me? Should I not do it when you're obviously flirting with other girls." Lucy's toe raised and anger began to swell inside her.

Natsu began to scratch his forehead. "Because we do it for two separate reasons, Luce!"

"How do our reasons differ, Natsu! Please tell me!" Lucy yelled, very aware that all her friends were now watching and aware of how jealous Lucy was.

"You do it because you think you're going to lose your best friend and the person who ended your relationship." Natsu said back, annoyed his voice began to raise. He turned around and looked at the ground before looking back at Lucy. "I do it because I don't see you as just my best friend! I don't tell you that because you just got out of a year long relationship. I never saw you as just my friend!"

Lucy bolted up right in her bed, only she wasn't in her bed. She was in Natsu's house and she'd just woke everyone up - they were sleeping because they had to get on the train tomorrow to go to Natsu's hometown tomorrow. Natsu moved to the couch from the chair and let Erza on it to sleep.

"Bad dream?" Natsu asked.

"No, just a bit enlightening." Lucy sighed. Natsu chuckled a little. "Go back to sleep, I am too."

"Alright." Natsu took at least ten seconds to go back to sleep.

Lucy stared up at the ceiling. She always thought Natsu was attractive, even Erza, Juvia and Levy had agreed, so some degree of attraction wasn't uncalled for. But to have a dream where they were arguing like an old couple made Lucy doubt that Natsu was anything less than just a friend, because her brain thought differently. She looked onto the tea table, only to see a picture of Natsu and his father stood grinning side by side. His father isn't even that hot, she thought before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**I've noticed the chapters are significantly shorter and my writing has lower in quality. That will end today. I apologise to anyone who noticed and wasn't happy.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 13 - ****Halted**

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Lucy sat in the train on a table of four. It consisted of herself, Levy, Juvia and Erza; they were sitting on their phones or playing some kind of card game and at some points they were just sitting in silence while Levy and Lucy read. Only two hours had passed and they were already bored out of their minds - they had another two hours of this mind-numbing boredom before they reached Natsu's hometown. Lucy rolled her head, trying to stretch out her neck from a very crippling pain that had occurred due to her hunched over way of reading.

She let out a breath of pain and hissed a little at how stiff her neck was. "I hate trains."

That was no lie. Lucy had been on trains a lot because she had to travel from her hometown to college and back every term; it was the most uncomfortable thing she'd ever had to experience, more uncomfortable than anyone sitting in a room with all their ex's and current boyfriend and trying to make idle chatter. She cracked her fingers then stretched upwards, which cracked her spine a little, causing Levy and Erza to give Lucy a weird look and for Juvia to audibly gasp.

"You're back is so unhealthy!" Juvia gasped out in shock moving her hand closer to her mouth. "That's the sound a sixty-year-old man's back makes after he stands up from his chair."

Levy laughed a little and slapped Lucy on the back. "Some older people are actually healthier than Lucy that are older than sixty."

Lucy rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. "Very funny guys." Lucy fake-laughed for a few seconds then shuffled more into the seat.

Erza looked up from her phone and looked at Lucy, placing her phone on the table with her messages open. "Everyone's bones are healthier than Lucy's."

Lucy pulled a scrunched up face, feeling attacked by all her friends. She smirked a little and drove her hand straight to Erza's phone and then yanked it back so that she could see what Erza was doing. Erza's face dropped as Lucy smiled triumphantly and leaned closer to Levy, who also wanted to look at Erza's messages.

"It's only fair seeing as you look at everyone else's messages and phones." Levy stuck her tongue out playful and watched as Erza scowled a little.

Lucy looked at Erza's phone, surprised to see her messaging Natsu and not Jellal. A message came through from Natsu: 'It's not like I wanted to hide it, it just happened'. Lucy scrolled up in the messages and wasn't surprised to find them talking about Talia. She looked at some recent messages about the matter, one from Erza caught her eye: 'You should tell Lucy'. Lucy continued to scroll down, and found the message that Natsu should have told her.

'Yeah because saying "hey, just letting you know my ex is going to be really hostile towards you because she saw a picture of us and is actually coming to meet us at the train station because she's a jealous and toxic person" is so easy.'

Lucy went off Natsu's messages and passed Erza's phone to Levy who looked at messages between Jellal and Erza, she wanted them to be spicy but was disappointing to find them quite bland apart from some casual flirting. Lucy smiled lightly but remained silent as Levy and Juvia talked and teased Erza about her relationship. Lucy excused herself shuffled out of her seat and walked past Natsu's table, glared at him, then continued to the cart where they sold drinks and food.

Natsu looked up from his game of poker and made eye contact with Lucy, who had just glared at him and walked away. Natsu folded and made a jog towards Lucy. He received flirtatious looks from women and girls on the train but didn't notice them as he followed closely behind Lucy. He watched her as she opened the train carriage door and walked through towards the next carriage. He followed behind her all the way to the snack bar.

"What was with that look?" Natsu inquired, he gave her an award winning grin and leaned next to her as she looked at a menu.

"What look?" Lucy smiled aimlessly for a second and then it dropped to an unreadable expression.

Natsu stretched his neck a little. "The glare you gave me a few minutes ago."

Lucy tapped her chin and then widened her eyes. "Oh that." She sarcastically spat. "Well, that would be the fact that I didn't know your girlfriend was going to be meeting us at the train station."

Natsu sighed and hung his head. "Not meeting, more like..." He thought for a second but the word wouldn't come to help. "Attacking? No... She's like coming without permission and it's going to be hostile."

Lucy threw her hands up in the air then slapped them against the sides of her legs. "Either way you should have told me about what she said on the picture of us two and that she was going to be coming."

Natsu chuckled a little. "What does it matter anyways? You've got me to protect you and I'm as strong as they come."

Lucy stared at Natsu with a plain face. "Just because you managed to push Dan away from me and almost break his wrist doesn't make you strong."

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" Natsu challenged. He made his way towards Lucy in tackle position and slung her over his shoulder fireman style.

Lucy banged on Natsu's back while squealing and laughing. She was so glad that no one was in here or the cart next to them or else there may have been a commotion - she wasn't prepared to explain why Natsu was carrying her around like she was some sort of giant teddy bear. Natsu began to bounce slightly, making Lucy jump slightly on his shoulder; this made her laugh and squeal more thinking that she was going to fall.

Natsu moved over to a table near the snack bar and was getting ready to put her down on the seat, but the train suddenly lurched to a stop and Natsu fell forwards, dropping Lucy onto the seat as gently as he could before falling on top of her. The train wheels screeched against the tracks to a stop and Natsu hit his head slightly off of the wall because he was protecting Lucy's head from hitting the wall.

The train paused on the tracks and all became silent for a few minutes. Natsu, who had been holding his breath in, let out a deep breath and felt relieved that the sudden movement had stopped. He let go of Lucy's head gently causing her to fall back onto the seat and look directly into Natsu's eyes, that were very close. They shared a silent moment with each other, not really sure if they should move now or not. They were too busy looking at each other to notice how much time had passed, but it had only been two minutes before they pulled away.

Natsu sat at the edge of the train seat and sat up, very close to Natsu again. "It's like the universe wants us to kiss." Natsu joked looking from Lucy's eyes to her lips.

"Yeah." Lucy whispered. "It does, I think."

They stayed there for a few moments in a peaceful silence, with Natsu looking at Lucy as she looked away shyly trying to look anywhere but his eyes. The peace was short lived as Erza and Levy ran in with Gajeel, Jellal, Gray and Juvia following behind them. Lucy looked up to the door seeing them all with worried looks and then looked at Natsu.

"Holy shit!" Lucy yelled out and quickly tilted Natsu's head back. "You're bleeding, like a lot!"

Gray dived behind the snack bar counter as a train worker walked in. He quickly located the first aid kit and jumped back over the counter. The train worker, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, ran over to Lucy and Natsu. He took the kit and opened it quickly, locating alcohol wipes and bandages.

"Hi, my name is Connor. I'm 100% trained in spotting beautiful women and first aid I promise." The guy joked, winking at Lucy and then examining Natsu's head.

"All beautiful women here are taken so go find them somewhere else." He slapped the mans hand away, who was going to bandage the wound first instead of cleaning it. "I trust Erza or Jellal to do it more."

Jellal took the first aid kit from the guy and began wiping away the blood from Natsu head. The cut was slightly diagonal on Natsu's head going from the centre top of his forehead to just above his eyebrow. Luckily, it was too deep so Jellal got some tape and a cotton patch and tapped it to his head. To say he looked stupid was an under statement.

"It wasn't too bad so if you take that off in an hour you'll be OK." Natsu nodded and looked over at Gray and Gajeel - both trying to hold back their laughter.

Natsu cracked his fingers and moved in on them. A fight broke out for a few minutes but the train began to move again and everything was back on track. However, Lucy was more confused than ever as she sat back in her booth with the girls and looked at Natsu who looked back at her. Did she like Natsu? Or was it just a fling she was feeling because of the things that had happened with Dan?

"There's no way I could like Natsu, right?" She whispered, but all the girls heard it.

"It's perfectly possible, I mean he was basically your knight in shinning armour and cares for you more than anyone else. You could like him." Levy answered honestly, shocking Lucy deeply. "And yes. You did say that out loud."

Lucy groaned as Levy, Juvia and Erza giggled a little. Juvia covered her mouth a little and her giggled rang out - Gray looked up and watched as they talked and teased Lucy about something.

"I'm going to ask Juvia out." He declared, looking away from her and to the rest of the guys. They nodded and patted him at his newfound feelings.


	14. Chapter 14

**I've been quite relaxed with my speed of writing, so chapters have been coming out later. But, seeing as I'm writing at the same time as the last chapters reviews come in, I'd like to thank everyone for their support. **

**I'm also writing a non-fanfic story called 'The Wall' which I'll upload somewhere on the internet at some point.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 14 - Meet The Family**

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The train arrived in the station, even with the delay, an hour earlier than it was expected. Lucy and Natsu hadn't spoken to each other for the whole train ride and didn't make eye contact much. To say things were slightly awkward between them was a slight understatement. Natsu hauled his luggage off of the train along with everyone else, but he stayed miles away from Lucy who got off last with Levy. It was clearly obvious that she had needed help too but he couldn't bring himself to talk to her without being embarrassed of wanting to kiss her.

Gray on the other hand was trying to stay as near to Juvia as humanly - he'd tried to ask her out severely times but kept tripping over his own words and ended up saying completely mumbled sentences which consisted of words pulled out of thin air that didn't make sense. Juvia didn't notice, just the fact that Gray was going out of his way to stand next to her, help her and to talk to her made her whole body melt. On the train they hadn't been sitting next to each other but Gray messaged her throughout the rest of their train ride.

They had all walked quickly through the train station, which seemed abandoned - but then again they it was the countryside filled with rich people's holiday homes on small lakes and old, retired people who used the fortune they'd made when they were living to move here. They ended up in a small car park where there were a few cars scattered here and there, but no more than nine cars were there. The sun shone down gently on the ground from a little past the middle of the sky, it could be seen plain as day as there was not a cloud in the sky.

A limo pulled into the car park and went round half of it before pulling up at their feet. A man came out of the drivers side, moving in a fast pace over to Natsu who smiled gently and squinted. The man opened up the limo door and out came a large man. His hair was slightly redder than Natsu's and he had a light beard and a scar slightly protruding from under it - it crinkled ever so slightly at the tip when he smiled or laughed wide enough.

"Beatuiful day for biking isn't it, son?" The large man said, he grabbed Natsu's shoulders and pulled him into a hug. "Shame that you guys will be too tired after that journey to bike."

"Yeah." Natsu said, he was let out of the hug and scratched the back of his head. "I'm surprised you recognised me."

"With that stupid hair colour? How could I not." Igneel joked, placing his hands on his hips and bellowing a single laugh out. "I'd say introduce me to your friends but you're ex will show up any time now, so shall we?" He ushered them to the door and helped the driver put the bags and suitcases into the boot of the car.

Natsu somehow ended up sitting next to Lucy at the very middle of the car where the wall diving the driver from the passengers part of the limo. Gray, Juvia, Levy and Gajeel all sat in the same row of seats that were directly opposite the wine cooler and mini-fridge, leaving the space near the door for Natsu's father, Igneel. Natsu shifted in his seat a little more to the window as his dad got in and the limo began to move; Lucy then moved slightly more towards him so that she wasn't on the edge of her seat.

"Natsu never really told us about you." Levy spoke first, being intrigued about the wealthy background Natsu came from. "Or his past really. He mentioned a couple things."

Igneel nodded and smirked slightly. "I understand why he hid many things from his past, but now I have the chance to tell you all about myself." He clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "I'm the founder of Drag. Corp. The massive racing company that makes racing clothing, vehicles and so forth. Natsu is my only male heir to the company and he's also had a winning streak in the 16-10's national racing scene. My biggest pride and joy."

Natsu coughed, his arm had rubbed against Lucy's and he jerk away quickly. "What about Wendy? Isn't she your pride and joy, too?"

"Oh, yes." Igneel smiled. "Natsu is my second prided and joy, my little girl Wendy is a future healer! Speaking of Wendy, that boy, Romeo, the one that you taught to fight, started dating her."

Natsu leaned back and put his arm resting along the rim of the seats, which went behind Lucy and hung slightly over her shoulder - an old habit of his. "You're telling me that little punk is dating my sweet, younger sister. This is worse than my ex coming to meet me - a war must be started!" Natsu pumped his fists in the air before resting them back down - he was fired up. "I'll have to make sure he's good enough for her."

Natsu scratched along his jawline, while Lucy stared at him - Igneel caught the look in Natsu's eye, which pleaded with Igneel not to say anything due to something awkward. "So, these are you friends? From the picture you sent me with their names captioned on it I think I can figure it out. The blonde one is Lucy; the big guy with piercings is Gajeel and his girlfriend Levy is sitting next to him. Gray and Juvia are the last ones which I haven't named and I surely can't confuse a female and a male."

"Sir, we're home." The driver said as the little window separating them rolled down.

Igneel was the first to exit, with the other four following after him. Natsu and Lucy remained in the car for a few minutes, neither knowing who should move first or speak first or be the first to do anything other than breathe. Natsu put his hand out, telling Lucy to move first, which she did. When Natsu made it out he was surprised to see that the girls had split off while the guys were talking with Igneel about the cars lining their drive way.

Natsu turned around, saw the front door of his house open and saw Romeo step out, then bolted towards him as fast as his legs could take him. He grabbed Romeo by the collar and dragged him down the front steps and placed him onto the grass before moving away to the other side of the grass and taking off of his shoes.

"First of all, you have to be tested to date my sister. Second, Igneel, why the hell are you leaving them in the house alone together, are you stupid?" He looked at his dad and then pointed between the two younger people.

"I told you I was going to ask her out before you left." Romeo said calmly. "Put your shoes back on."

"Oh, yeah you did." Natsu wrapped his arm around Romeo's neck and grabbed Wendy and brought them over to his friends, who were getting their bags out. "This is Wendy and this is Romeo."

Wendy was a young girl, she had long blue hair tied up in pigtails and had a slightly babyish face. Romeo also had a baby-like face but he had hair like Gray's, but his was actually black and not a weird, dark shade of blue. They both waved at Natsu's friends before Natsu let go of them and headed over to his friends. He introduced them slowly, making sure that he didn't confuse Wendy and Romeo with whose name belonged to who.

"Alright, lets go in and eat!" Igneel yelled lightly over the light chatter.


	15. Chapter 15

**I had to take a moment to figure out how I want a development in the story and in the character's relationships. I also have to figure out how I want to end the story and when I do it.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 15 - This Feeling of Not Knowing**

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Natsu had forgotten how big his house was. He had woken up early to get some food, but he had to walk down a flight of stairs and the walk a little bit further because of the walk from his room to the stairs and then from the stairs to the kitchen. That's why he had moved into a smaller, cosier home that wasn't big and had everything he needed close together. Quietly, he opened the fridge and began getting out some bread and meats to cook and put on it. He decided bacon would be a good choice.

"Bacon is bad for your health if you have too much of it." Natsu jumped slightly, he closed the fridge quickly and dropped the tub of butter on the floor. He turned and saw a familiar blonde on her phone and drinking coffee.

Natsu coughed, not really sure why she wasn't acting awkward as yesterday. "Coffee is bad for you too."

Lucy laughed a little, still looking at her coffee cup and not at Natsu. "I need something to keep me awake for the rest of the day seeing as I couldn't sleep."

Natsu turned on the heating for the pan and placed the pan on top with some oil in it. "Why do you need to stay awake, couldn't you sleep?"

Lucy looked up and only now could he see the black bags that gather under her eyes and the redness that was in her eyes from being sleep deprived or from crying - he couldn't tell. He could physically see the energy that the coffee had given her drain from her face as quickly as she drank it; her body was slouched, which was unusual for Lucy as she always sat straight and talked about maintaining perfect posture when he slouched in his seat or sat in an unhealthy way.

"I did a lot of thinking last night. I also did a lot of talking with Erza, Levy and Juvia about what I was feeling and what I should do about it." Lucy took a deep breath in. "They all said the same thing, which, for once, wasn't useful advice seeing as what I'm feeling is a weird mixture of regret, relief, sadness and also happiness. I just broke up with Dan; I'm sad and relieved at the fact that I'm no longer with him, but I regret not trying to work things out and losing control of my emotions. I'm happy because that led me to some great friends, like you."

"Is there anything else, because I'm sure their advice to stay away from that ass was good." Natsu picked up the two cooked pieces of bacon with a spatula and then placed them onto a plate before putting two more in the pan.

"I'm relieved I didn't kiss you even though it seemed like a perfect moment." Natsu began to manually blink - he was forcing his self to blink because of a little amount of shock.

"So you wanted to kiss me?" Lucy nodded at Natsu's question, taking another sip of her drink as she did so. "But you didn't so you're relieved and happy? I'm a little offended I'm not a bad kisser."

"I also regret not kissing you." Lucy began swirling the coffee in her drink. "It's hard for me to say you're ugly and I'm not attracted to you, because I am, but I've also only known you a month and that's not enough time for me to want to make out with someone I barely know. I'm sad because I know I'm not working it out with Dan because of you and I hate people having control of my emotions like this."

Natsu nodded, flipping the bacon over to the other side to cook. "It sounds like you just confessed to me but don't want to act on your feelings. It sounds like you're afraid."

"Afraid of things going wrong because we just met? Yeah, I am." Lucy grabbed the coffee pot and poured herself another cup. "I lost a long-term relationship because for some reason I was attracted to you, but you just want to go meet a bunch of girls and be free from any relationship."

"I met Talia at her party; I was going to kiss her but you called and I dropped everything for you." Natsu sighed, this wasn't an argument but a genuine conversation about their feelings for each other - Natsu couldn't help but think if it'd be awkward later. "I haven't even connected with a girl the way I connected with you, but you're not ready for a relationship because of Dan and I'm just waiting in my own way."

"Sounds to me like you're confessing but don't want to act on your feelings." Lucy mocked sticking her tongue out.

Natsu moved quickly with a smirk on his face, he boxed her in of her chair and span her around from the counter to face him. "I can act on it if you want me to."

"The girls said it'd be a bad idea." Lucy gulped, not really sure what to do. Her heart was pumping too fast and the blodd was rushing to her face quicker than it ever had when Dan had done things like this to her.

Natsu leaned forward. "They don't have to know. No one does. We aren't ready, but so what. I say we do something about it and tell them later if it works out." Natsu gave Lucy a reassuring smile, which she returns. "We're not all perfect, but we can try to do this even when you're broken from you're last relationship and so I am."

Lucy nodded, she raised her head up to meet his eyes with her own. "Let's do this, out little secret." She pressed her pinky against his chest and Natsu caught it with his own. He stooped his head down stopped for a second, letting both their eyes close. Lucy waited, but was surprised to feel a pair of lips on her forehead rather than her lips. She opened her eyes and looked at Natsu, who smiled with a goofy grin back at her.

"Little baby steps." Natsu winked. "Can't give you all the goods at once - that's just bad business tactics."

Lucy smacked his chest with her fist, but it was weak with no power behind it. He laughed a little before removing himself from boxing her in and finishing making his food. He cut the two sandwiches in half before passing sandwich to Lucy and keeping the other for himself. They ate and talked a little more about how awkward they had been around each other and how they'd balance their secret out so that they could still do couples stuff, like dates. Eventually, they had both finished eating and Natsu was going to go for a run.

"I hate this feeling of not knowing how we'll end." Lucy laughed slightly, trying to hide her worry. "I wouldn't say I love you but I like you - it might not work out because I started dating you without loving you."

"You trusted in me before you knew me, with the things I said about Dan, isn't that the same." Natsu gave Lucy a reassuring smile and then stretched his legs out before standing up.

Lucy looked at the time and saw that they still had five hours before they had to get up and get ready to go out with Natsu's dad to a biking track. "I'll go get some sleep. Night, Natsu."

"Goodnight, Luce." Natsu said reaching out and touching her cheek.

He watched her go back up the stairs and shyly wave goodbye before jogging lightly to her room. He found it adorable. He put in his earphones and turned his volume up loud before exiting the house through the back entrance and using the back garden as a place to exercise. He looked up and saw Lucy peeping out of her window at him and then took his phone out and told her to go sleep. Soon she had left the window and was sleeping.

Happily, Natsu worked out until his father came to join him an hour later and Wendy joined later on.


	16. Chapter 16

**Ha ha! Sudden Nalu in the last chapter - were you expecting it? Probably not. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and know that now we're really going to get into the romance and drama.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 16 - Migraine**

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Natsu hopped out of the shower, a towel loosely hung around his waist and his hair covered most of his face. The droplets of water from his warm shower ran down his body, dipping in between the crevasses of his abs. He took another towel off the side and began drying his body and hair quickly. He pushed his hair back and dried his face before throwing the hand towel into the washing basket and grabbing one more before he left. He swung the bathroom door open, only to be met with Gajeel and Gray walking with girls and Jellal trailing behind them with Erza by his side.

"Who showers at 10 in the morning? You usually shower about 6 and then get ready for the rest of the day." Levy questioned thinking it was absurd to shower at 10 when breakfast was being served at ten.

Natsu placed the spare towel around his neck holding it at both ends. "I've been working out, so unless you want to smell sweat at breakfast you can expect the rest of my family to be late too. Unless you like the smell of sweat when you eat, then by all means I'll go out of my way for you, Levy."

"Hey, if she likes the smell of sweat while she eats I'll provide it, not you, Natsu." Gajeel butted in jokingly, he held up his finger and pointed at Natsu. "Do it for some other chick."

"Happily." Natsu laughed as he waved them off downstairs. He noticed Lucy standing with Erza and Jellal and in turn they were all loking at Jellal's phone. "What's up?"

Jellal lifted his head up, not quite sure what to say, but he eventually found the words. "Dan is messaging me asking if I'll help him talk to Lucy because I'm close with Erza. He wants to try and work things out between them even if they don't get back together." Jellal reached up and scratched his neck, slightly taken back by Dan's change of character. "I haven't spoken to him for awhile but he seems like he means it."

Erza grabbed Jellal's phone, scrolling through the message and then reading it aloud. "His exact words are: 'I feel really bad about what happened between her and I. We were really good together and made each other happy even if it wasn't all the time. I got jealous that a new guy came along and wanted to talk to her and be her friend; that's my fault, not hers. Could you help me reach out to her and try to talk things out, even through text. I don't want to force her to feel like we need to get together again, just to smooth things out and maybe we might get together again, I don't know.' Seems pretty decent to me."

Natsu raised his eyebrow. "Seems decent to you? Dan isn't a decent guy."

"You haven't known him as long as Jellal and I have as well as how long Lucy has." Erza stated calmly, passing Jellal back his phone. "It's up to you, Lucy. You do what you want to do."

Lucy had been a little busy admiring Natsu. He'd obviously spent a lot of time and effort in making himself and his abs defined and strong and that determination made Lucy admire him a little more. From the looks of it he'd been working out for four hours and then came in and had a long shower - she could only think about how tired he was from pushing his body so much, but if he hadn't of push his body he wouldn't look as good as he did now. Natsu smirked seeing how Lucy daydreamed while staring at his body; she quickly snapped out of it after he snapped his fingers in her face.

"What are you going to do about Dan?" Jellal asked, getting ready to type back to Dan. Erza placed a hand on his arm and gently rubbed it telling him to slow down.

"I'll have to think about it for a little bit - I'm not sure." Lucy said rubbing her face. "See you all downstairs."

Lucy was the first to leave; this left just Erza, Jellal and Natsu stood exactly where they were outside the bathroom door. It was silent for a second, a long lingering second - Erza and Jellal both wanted to scold Natsu for influencing Lucy to try and stay away from Dan, but they understood why he was against it. Every time Natsu had been around Lucy and Dan it ended with Lucy in tears and Dan being the cause of the pain she felt - it was only a natural reaction for Natsu to dislike someone who hurt his friend.

"Dan was good for Lucy for a long time." Erza spoke first breaking the rising tension and awkwardness between the three. "He treated her well and doted on her and when they became more stable and their relationship wasn't in its beginning stages they had problems but they fought through them. To just not have the other in their lives so suddenly must be taking its toll on both of them. They didn't even see their breakup coming. They were happy before this."

"Wasn't she happy this last month that they weren't together?" Natsu spoke softly, a small smile returning to his face. "Sorry - it wasn't my place to say that. I'll see you downstairs."

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Everyone had finished eating breakfast and were ready to hit the road for an hour and a half to get to the biking track that Natsu dad owned and they were all pretty excited and nervous about it since they didn't know how to drive. Patiently, they waited outside as Natsu and Igneel went and got the car keys for two SUV Cadillac Escalades, a luxury six seated passenger car, suitable for how many people that were going to the track.

Natsu was driving the first car, which would lead everyone to the track. He'd have Lucy in the front next to him, then Gray and Juvia in the middle seats, followed by Wendy and Romeo in the back. In Igneel's car was Erza and Jellal in the middle and Gray and Juvial in the back and a spare space in the front in case anyone needed to move from one car to another.

Natsu came put carrying two large carry-on bags used for gym clothes and short trips which contained all the gear they'd need for biking. He unlocked the car a motioned for everyone to get in. He lifted up the trunk and threw in the bags, as did Igneel. He walked over to his dad, who was making sure everyone was there and that he had all the gear needed for everyone in his car. Natsu took out his phone and looked at the time.

"The motorway should be empty now so we can go quickly over the motor ways, getting into the track might be a little harder because of the security checks." Natsu told his dad, who smirked a little.

"I already told the guys we're coming down and that they shouldn't let anyone in today other than us. They know you're my son so there shouldn't be too much trouble." Igneel closed the trunk of the car. "Anything else?"

"Is this for the press?" Igneel nodded, which meant there was going to be camera's but they'd be off grounds as they weren't allowed on private property unless invited. "Alright. I'll start heading out. Don't get caught in my dust when I smoke you on the tracks."

"I taught you everything you know, but not everything I know." Igneel bellowed out a laugh and put on some shades before opening the car door. "Let's go."

Natsu walked over to the car in front and opened up the drivers door and sat in the seat. He put on his seat belt and asked if everyone else was ready, then he began driving at a reasonable pace, before speeding up when he left the gates of his house, his father following closely behind. He put one hand on the steering wheel, then reached into his pocket just as the reached the motor way and passed his phone to Lucy.

"Put something good on." Natsu smiled while placing his hand back on the wheel. "Also, you guys better keep it PG rating back there or I'll pull over and stick Romeo in dad's car."

Romeo and Wendy blushed before saying 'yes' and continuing with their light chatter and small flirts. Lucy put on a playlist by Panic! At The Disco and then also queued a few other songs that Gajeel and Levy suggested. She rolled down the window and let her hand be hit by the light winds while slightly bobbing her head to the music that played. Lucy engage in light conversation every so often with Levy and Gajeel and usually spoke a few words to Natsu - she wasn't sure what to say because of what they agreed on that morning.

"So, what's going on with the whole Dan situation?" Levy brought up, she was getting bored of the previous conversation she was having. "Everyone has a different opinion. What is your opinion, Natsu?"

"Honestly?" Natsu asked, looking at Levy through the mirror to see her nodding. "Lucy seems to be doing much better than when I saw her with Dan, maybe she should just leave him in the past."

"I agree." Gajeel gruffly said, coughing to clear his throat slightly. "I couldn't hang out with Levy when she was with Lucy, it was difficult on a relationship when I only got to see her when she wasn't with Lucy. Which wasn't often."

Natsu nodded and looked at Lucy slightly with a sly smirk that only she could see plastered on his face. "Yeah, I'd want to see my girlfriend everyday and hang out with her and her friends."

Lucy blushed slightly, noticing that Natsu was purposely teasing her because they'd gotten into a relationship. She smiled back slyly. "I don't know. Maybe I will work things out with him. You never know what might change in the future."

Natsu's smirk vanished and he turned his head slightly to the side before training his eyes on the road and tapping the wheel with one hand to the beat of the music. Levy shifted forward in her seat. "Personally, I'd talk to him and see what he has to say first. Then reject his sorry and feelings and walk away like a boss."

"I like that idea, go for that one." Natsu agreed, pointing his thumb at Levy and nodding. "Plus who needs Dan when you have my whole heart, my everything." Natsu dramatically spoke reaching out to the front of the car.

"You're giving me a migraine, shut up." Lucy joked, slapping Natsu on his leg slightly. "You're going to make Romeo think that's how you get to keep a girlfriend when doing that makes you lose one."

"What do you mean 'keep a girlfriend'?" Levy moved forward towards Lucy, her eyes squinting questioningly at Lucy.

"Because Romeo and Wendy are already dating and I'm guessing Romeo looks up to Natsu. So, if this is how Natsu flirts Wendy will think Romeo's a weirdo and break up with him." Lucy smiled, knowing full well that she was using Wendy and Romeo as placement names for the herself and Natsu.

"I feel attacked." Natsu pouted. Then he caught a glimpse over the rail of the motor way at what they were in store for. "I'm afraid your migraine is going to get worse, Luce. What's the plan Wendy?"

Natsu turned off the motorway and into the tracks car park; he saw lots of reporters piling around the outside of the car park waiting to get a glimpse of Natsu with Wendy and his father. He cracked his neck and looked through the car mirror at Wendy who nodded.

"We have to make sure we cause a little bit of a scene while getting in. Dad wants you and one of your friends to grab the bags while looking really close, while Romeo helps me out the car and the press find out we're dating which will give Dad a lot of publicity that I'm dating the heir of a big ale company. He said if you can, could you make it look like you have a love interest."

Natsu sighed, pulling the car up in one of the spots near the entrance. "Lucy, would you do me the honour of being my love interest?"

"I'm the heir of Heartfillia. Corp. My dad will kill me once he finds out." Natsu nodded and looked at Lucy as she played with her thumbs. "But I'll do it."

Natsu opened the car door and the press began taking pictures of him and shouting for him to come over. He grabbed the shades off of the dash board and passed them for Lucy to put on. He closed the drivers side and opened up the passenger door so that Levy and Gajeel could get out. As they got out Natsu went round to the other side and opened the car door for Lucy who climbed out and followed him round to the back of the car to get the bags out.

The press went wild taking pictures of the two of them. They talked lightly about the press but kept smiles on their faces to show intimacy between them. They grabbed the two bags and closed the trunk of the car just as Romeo helped Wendy out the car. Natsu placed a hand on the small of Lucy's back and led her round to meet Romeo and Wendy before Wendy, Romeo and Natsu smiled and waved at the press while Lucy kept her head down low.

They'd all been in front of the press before, so acting like they had love interests and pretending to date someone for publicity was nothing uncommon. Natsu took the other bag from Lucy and passed it to Romeo and told Lucy to follow him while he went and helped his father. Igneel ushered the others inside and then stood in front of the press with his son and daughter.

"I'm not at liberty to currently discuss the relationships going on with people by my son and daughter, but I am happy that Natsu has brought his friends and that we're all going out for today." Igneel waved off the camera's and press, who kept pushing questions towards them.

The trio left and entered the building, Natsu speaking quietly so the press couldn't overhear. "Lucy is the heir of the Hearfillia. Corp - her dad is going to be on your line as soon as he figures out it is her in those pictures."


	17. Chapter 17

**Just learnt Can't Help Falling In Love With You on ukulele currently. Last chapter was pretty long.**

**Tell me if you want chapters as long as that or prefer the short ones.**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 17 - Into Town**

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The next morning Lucy found herself quite excited to wake up at five and go downstairs to get coffee and talk to Natsu. Unsurprisingly, her whole body ached from biking yesterday after she'd fallen off the bike over 15 times before being able to drive for five minutes without falling. Natsu had helped her and everyone else learn - he was a great teacher when it came to bikes, not so much of a great teacher when he was teaching Romeo how to do some tricks - and soon enough they were able to do a little one lap race around the track. Natsu was disqualified from the race because everyone else was an amateur and it'd be unfair.

Quickly, she pulled on some clothes and freshened herself up and began a painful journey to the kitchen. She felt her whole body scream out for a rest although she'd only made it half way down the stairs. She reached the bottom only to see Natsu stifling a laugh at the bottom of the stairs to her right; she hit him, but it was so weak she may as well not have in the first place. He gave her a helping hand into the kitchen, where she was surprised by a salad and some meats and a coffee lined up next to the plate. She took a seat at the counter across from Natsu who had a sandwich in front of him with a glass of water.

"So, you're giving me the healthy foods while you eat fatty meat?" Lucy raised a eyebrow. She reached out for her coffee and put it to her lips and sipped the top letting the warm substance run down her throat; it relieve her pain a little. "This doesn't mean you're healthy."

"Says the girl drinking black coffee every morning." Natsu replied nonchalantly taking a hefty bite of his sandwich and washing it down with some water.

Lucy coughed and sat up straight. She grabbed her fork and pointed it at Natsu, then stabbed the salad in front of her and took ate. "I need something to keep me awake to keep up with all your energy."

Natsu looked up at her and chewed gently while placing his elbow on the counter and resting his cheek upon his fist. "You could always work out. It's a good energy booster and it wakes you up." Natsu reach over to Lucy's salad with one hand and her fork with the other. He took the fork from her and ate some of her salad. "Happy now?"

"Slightly." Blushing, Lucy began eating her salad at a normal pace while maintaining casual conversation with Natsu, but all that clouded her mind was the indirect kiss they just shared with each other.

Time seemed to pass all to fast for the two of them. Soon, Gray and Jellal came down and joined them at the counter. They invited themselves to eat the food that Natsu had made, then we're followed by Levy and Erza who gladly poured themselves some coffee. Natsu and Lucy were still engage in their conversation, only this time with four more people talking too. Natsu grabbed the empty plates and placed them in the sink, quite proud off his self for making enough food for everyone as there was still half of the food left to eat. It'd be enough for the others when they came down too.

Wendy was next to come down, she plated herself a salad and poured herself a glass of juice before sitting down at the counter next to Lucy. "Dad got a call off of a Mr. Heartfillia last night, so he's in the office early."

Natsu nodded his head, not surprised in the least, but Lucy was. "My father called him?"

"It must've been because he saw the pictures from yesterday from his PR team." Natsu looked at Lucy reassuringly, before passing a glass to Gray so he could get some water from the fridge dispenser. "Don't worry, if it was bad news I'd have a bump on my head by now for messing up."

"Plus, your dad knows you and Dan just broke up and he knows that publicity is important for companies as long as it's not negative." Levy sat on the other side of Lucy and quickly rubbed her shoulder. "Natsu's dad will clear up the situation, right?"

"Of course." Natsu smirked and leaned on the counter. "Or you could just date me and then it wouldn't be a lie."

"Funny." Lucy deadpanned giving him an innocent, but devilish smile while tilting her head sideways.

Natsu looked over at Gray and Jellal and placed a hand on his heart and feigned pain. "I'll forever be rejected and die alone because of her, will I not?"

Gray stood up and placed his glass in the sink. He pat Natsu's back. "Yeah." He said, not really bothered by the situation or Natsu's joke. "Sorry, buddy."

Natsu stood up and turned around; he put his hands in front of him and gestured to Gray. "You're not really a reassuring friend are you?" Everyone laughed a little before Natsu turned back around and winked at Lucy. "She'll agree one day. Any way, when the others wake up we're going into town."

* * *

Natsu told the driver to stop and everyone piled out the limo. The driver stepped out and came over to Natsu, who told him when and where to meet them again and thanked him for dropping them off in the town centre. He waved goodbye as the man drove off and pushed back his hair and looked over to the group. Wendy had gotten Romeo to meet up with them at the drop off spot and everyone else had gotten in the limo. He looked at Erza and Jellal, who appeared to be in a heated debate with Gajeel and Levy about something or other. Lucy was talking with Wendy and Juvia, while Romeo was talking to Gray.

He cracked his fingers and stretched his neck a little from side to side. He made walked over to them and got their attention. "You can go where ever you want to go, we just have to meet up back here at five."

Everyone nodded and put their thumbs up and split off into different groups. Romeo and Wendy went with Gray and Juvia because they wanted to go shopping for clothes and shoes; Jellal and Erza went with Gajeel and Levy to get food because they were still hungry even after the breakfast that Natsu had cooked. The only two who remained were Natsu and Lucy themselves, who appeared to be slightly ecstatic to be alone together.

"So where does my girl want to go first?" He questioned, wrapping an arm around her waist when everyone was out of sight. "Clothes shopping? We could be cringe and get matching outfits."

"Because that wouldn't make it obvious that we're dating secretly?" Lucy joked; Natsu pointed at her with a nod and a smirk. Lucy laughed a little then began walking slowly. "My shoes are trashed from yesterday, so I need to get a new pair."

"Okay, lets go. I'll buy." Lucy looked at Natsu wide eyed while he smiled widely and put some sunglasses on his face. Lucy did the same.

They began walking into the open shopping centre. The architecture was modern and in the centre of the building was a large fountain with fake, small islands and trees of different kinds that were beautiful to look at. Lucy was amazed at how few people they were, but soon realised that most of the people were rich just from the way they held themselves while they walked around. They hopped onto an escalator that went from the ground floor to the second floor.

"We might bump into a few people from my past. Most of them are OK - like Sting and Rogue, they were like my brothers - the rest are kind of rude." Natsu spoke softly, looking around slightly as the made it half way up. "If we meet them I'll just say we're busy."

"You don't seem to like your past very much. Any reason why?" Lucy inquired while feeling Natsu's hand tighten around her waist.

"Maybe I'll tell you some day, I'd prefer if it stayed in the past though." Natsu smiled looking at Lucy while stepping off onto the next floor. "Doesn't everyone have things they want to keep in the past."

"Dan, I wish he'd stay in my past and not come into this part of my life." Lucy sighed and looked at Natsu who was leading her into a shoe shop slightly in front of them. Natsu raised an eyebrow and asked her to go into more detail. "Erza and Jellal think I should forgive him and try to move past what happened between us. I'll forgive him but I don't want a relationship with him."

"Makes sense because you have me." They walked into the shop and saw rows upon rows of shoes that stretched up walls and along isles. Natsu led Lucy to the sneaker section. "I'd be OK with you forgiving Dan, I'm just not OK with you talking to him."

"That voice sounds freaking familiar." Someone spoke huskily from around a corner, Natsu and Lucy turned to be faced a blonde, spiky haired male and one who looked quite emo-like. "Holy shit! Natsu!"

"Sting! Rogue! I was thinking I would be lucky enough not to see you." Natsu joked while letting go of Lucy's waist and giving them both a one sided hug. "Lucy this is Sting and Rogue. This is Lucy."

"Nice to meet you." Both of them said at the same time.

"It's nice to meet you too." Lucy replied shyly, slightly hiding behind Natsu. "I should go look for shoes."

Natsu looked down at her and turned. "Hang on for one second I'll come with you." He turned back to the two guys, who appeared ready to leave. "I have to get going and I'm only here for a couple days so we won't be able to catch up, but I'll keep in touch, yeah?"

"Yeah, if we see you-know-who we won't say a word. She's been a bit crazy ever since you left - no one really wants to be apart of that, bad for publicity." Sting ushered Rogue out the store. "See you around!"

Natsu turned back to Lucy. "Lets get you some shoes."


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm currently invested in my studies and writing my other story to the best quality I can.**

**Uploads will come once every week now on Monday's at 7pm BST (London time zone).**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 18 - Perfect Kiss**

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The weeks activities came to a close quickly after that. Natsu and Lucy were now sat outside on the grass talking about all the things they should have done together but missed out on because they just didn't think about it. Every morning they had met in the kitchen and talked about anything and everything. Now, as Natsu, Lucy and their friends said their goodbyes for the day and went to their own homes again, Natsu and Lucy found themselves alone again.

Gray was walking Juvia home, Gajeel and Levy were dropping their stuff off at their houses and then were going on a date and Jellal and Erza had not told anyone what they were going to do, but they were going to have some time with their families and introduce each other to them. Natsu and Lucy were the only ones with no plans, so they took this chance to decide to go out together.

They dropped their clothes off and then met thirty minutes later, at 12:30, in Magnolia Park. "Hey, did you change?" Natsu asked Lucy as he wrapped his arms around her into a hug, which she happily replied to by wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I only changed my pants." Lucy giggled noticing how observant he was. "We can go back to mine, no one is there."

Natsu smirked and interlocked their fingers as they made their way through and towards the park exit. "Are you scared someone will see us?"

Lucy began walking a little faster and Natsu matched her pace. "Well, if Dan or Levy or even Gray saw us there'd be a lot of questions. The girls will be mad at me for dating you a month after Dan and I broke up because I should be 'healing'. Would you like to explain why were out holding hands?"

Natsu nodded. "If we get caught what would you do?" They reached the park exit and turned left heading towards Lucy's house. The sky was a little grey and it was said that there would be a storm later in the day and everyone should stay in doors.

Lucy started swinging their arms slightly between the two of them her lips pursing her lips. "I'd break up with you." Natsu looked at her with wide eyes only to see a small, cute grin spreading across her fair face. "To prove the point that I'd be unhappy without you."

Natsu signed in relief a little before poking her in her sides causing her to jump onto a silent road. "Instead of dumping me you could always just spend time away from me and show them how unhappy you are then."

Lucy crossed over the road with Natsu following behind her. She took out her keys from her pocket and opened the front gate of her house. She did a little turn to show Natsu her smirk and he knew that she'd been joking with him the whole time. He watched as she unlocked the door and walked inside and then he follow and was met with a cozy, warm, embracing heat that enveloped him made him feel slight sleepy. Before Lucy closed the door the heavens opened and rain began pelting the floor like thousands of bullets and a crack of lightning whipped across the sky.

"Looks like you'll have to stay here for awhile." Lucy smiled gently, she closed the door and then felt two hands on her waist.

"I'm OK with that." Natsu whispered into her ears before dragging her away from the door and to the couch.

* * *

Gray stood outside of Juvia's apartment, not really sure if he should go inside or wait for her to come out. Only when he heard her voice telling him to come in did he feel slightly more comfortable and less nervous to enter her apartment and see it for himself. He was surprised with how quaint the place was and how aesthetically pleasing it was with a white, black and dark blue colour scheme. He looked around a little more, seeing pictures in small frames of Juvia and Erza, then Juvia and Levy and some with Lucy - but many of them were with all four of them in.

He looked onto a black draw, where a picture frame was placed downwards so that no one could see the picture inside. He lifted it up and was surprised to see a familiar man stood next to Juvia with an arm wrapped around her shoulders and Juvia staring at him lovingly. Maybe he'd taken her kindness a flirting and began to like her, he thought to himself. This picture was undeniable proof she had a boyfriend. That boyfriend was the guy he'd broke several ribs of for treating another girl badly.

Juvia walked out of her room and saw Gray holding the photo. Gray looked at her and put it back down the way he found it. "Sorry, I was just intrigued. I know that guy, I think he might be cheating on you."

"He was." Juvia answered shortly. She picked up the frame and opened it, taking the picture out and scrunching it into a ball. "And then you hit him for making that girl cry. You then dated her for a little."

"Maybe I chose the wrong girlfriend of his to date." Gray half-joked wanting to see how'd she'd react to his slight confession.

Juvia moved slightly closer to him, slightly shocked. "What do you mean by that?"

Gray tried to think of words to describe how he felt, but nothing came to mind other than that he liked her. He didn't want to say to her that he liked her, in case she rejected him and decided that she wanted more time to get over her ex - then he'd be like Natsu pining for her love. Instead, he could only think of what to do and that was to kiss her. That's what he did.

He grabbed her face with both of his hands and quickly pulled her lips towards him. The gap between them closed and he moved his hand to her neck, keeping one on her cheek and locking her in place with the other. At first she didn't know how to respond - she was too shocked - but soon she found herself brought back to the real world and began kissing him back. It was like a dream come true for her - her crush had noticed her and was kissing her with such emotion that she felt a single tear roll down her cheek.

"That's what I mean." Gray said breathlessly pulling away from their perfect kiss.

Juvia felt herself become blushed and slightly hot from what had just occurred between them. "So, does this mean were dating or did you just do that to test what it was like? If you did it's OK I'll just wait until you want to date, I don't mind." Juvia mumbled mindlessly.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Gray asked, smiling at Juvia with a light smile. She nodded and threw herself into his arms.

They stood for a moment - happy beyond words - before the rain and storm began and they realised that Gray was stuck in her apartment till the storm went. They didn't care too much about being stuck with each other in the same room at all though.


	19. Chapter 19

**Getting used to changing my upload schedule is a pain. Uploading daily is more productive but writing chapters is a long process.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 19 - I Can't Believe You**

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It had been almost two weeks since Natsu and Lucy had agreed to secretly date and almost two weeks since Grey and Juvia had become an official couple in the eyes of everyone. The adjustment period was long; it took them awhile to get used to holding hands in public, being intimate and to get used to just being a couple in general. Natsu and Lucy on the other hand were having a hard time keeping their hands off each other - everyone had noticed that they were becoming increasingly friendlier with each other since their awkward fight three weeks ago.

Natsu sat in the college canteen, a red tray of food in front of him; it was mostly chips and a slice of pizza, but there were some grapes and apple slices in a separate area too. Across from him sat Talia, she was wearing some more natural make-up after Natsu had sworn to everyone in his class that he liked more natural girls than girls who plastered themselves up to impress guys. They were talking about the chemistry assignment they'd be told to hand in next week and how it was such a short time to do it in. The obvious signs of flirting from Talia didn't faze Natsu as he ignored them pretty well.

"Did your friend sort out the problem between her and her ex?" Talia did a 180 degree turn on their conversation of work to Lucy and Dan.

Natsu coughed a little and sipped on his water to sooth himself. "She's not interested in him anymore. She said she'll forgive him but nothing is going to happen between them." Natsu paused looking at Talia for a brief second and seeing pain on her face. "Why are you asking?"

"I feel like I'm in a competition with her - if she still had feelings for her ex it wouldn't be a competition with her anymore." Natsu was confused by Talia's cryptic words as she smiled lightly at him.

"What do you mean by that?" Natsu inquired further - he hated being confused. "Why would you and Lucy be in a competition together?"

"Over you." She stated bluntly. "I get jealous when I see you with her and it sort of feels like she's trying to fight with me over who has you."

"There's no need for a competition then." Natsu's words came out quickly; his mouth was moving on it's own without his permission and without thought. "I mean we're friends and Lucy and I have been through a lot; she's also been with me everywhere."

"So, we're nothing more than friends?" Talia seemed quite pained in Natsu's eyes, but he couldn't flirt with her to make her feel better because it would make him feel worse.

Natsu paused for a second seeing Lucy with Levy and Gajeel coming into the canteen. Her face lit up and her eyes sparkled when Levy mentioned something she was really interested and passionate about, but then she pouted a little when Gajeel made fun of her and Levy's height or when levy teased Lucy. He crossed his arms a laid back in his seat letting his eyes wander over Lucy multiple times before returning to his food and his conversation with Talia.

"What else would we be other than friends?" Natsu smiled slightly, knowing that Talia thought that they had some sort of deep emotional bond due to what happened at the party awhile ago. "Anyways, I have to go now. Luce and some others are here. See you later, Tals!"

Natsu grabbed his tray of food and enthusiastically strode over to the table Lucy, Levy and Gajeel had placed themselves on. He placed his food in front of Lucy and slid in the booth next to her; he put his arm over the back of the booth and smiled widely at Lucy with his signature grin. Lucy smiled back with the same enthusiasm as Natsu and poked him in his ribs before beginning to eat the chips and slice of pizza he'd just given her.

"Hey, Luce." Natsu allowed his wide smile to become slightly smaller and faced her. "How was lesson?"

"It was good." Lucy smiled back. "We were allowed to write anything we wanted for our submissions into a publishers writing contest. Levy wrote about fantasy and friendship and I thought I'd do that too but I'd add some romance and the story lines are completely different."

"Romance? I hope I'm the main guy and you're my romantic interest." Natsu joked poking Lucy in the ribs multiple times causing her to jump in her seat. "I think I'd make an awesome fire wielder and then you'd be protected by me a lot."

"That's my cue to get food." Gajeel gruffly spoke before sliding out of the booth and going to buy food for Levy and his self.

"Like hell you'd be the main romantic interest of my character." Lucy scoffed playfully.

"Alright, spill!" Levy yelled in a slightly quieter voice than expected. "There's something up with you two. Are you two dating?"

Lucy coughed and choked on a chip that she had just been trying to eat. She grabbed Natsu's water and chugged down half the bottle; she was mostly trying to calm herself down and make her flushed face vanish. Natsu patted Lucy's back trying to help her digest the chip she'd just choked on from shock and thought it'd be best if Lucy managed this. Levy looked at their faces - Natsu's face was lightly flushed, it was barely noticeable and Lucy's was brightly flushed and was visible from the other side of the canteen. Even if they aren't dating then they definitely like each other.

"You two are dating, aren't you?" Levy said in complete shock, she wasn't really sure if she felt betrayed a little or if she was just hurt Lucy hadn't told her.

"I can explain why I didn't tell you." Lucy frantically moved to the other side of the booth to sit beside Levy. "At the time a lot of people were telling me that I should forgive Dan and try again or forgive him and it might lead to something better again, even you said it at one point, but at that point I was already dating Natsu secretly. I thought you guys would be upset at me for not taking a break from dating."

"Wait, so you were dating before the text from Dan came through?" Levy inquired.

"Yeah, literally the night before or something like that." Natsu chimed in. "In all defence, you should be mad at me. I'm the one who said we shouldn't tell anyone that's why Lucy didn't tell you."

"Are you guys going to keep it secret?" Levy asked, she waited a moment then continued. "Also, I'm happy for you guys. I think Erza, Juvia and I were just worried that Lucy might let this whole thing with Dan stop her from being happy and that Dan might be able to fix it."

"We don't know really. I was just going to keep it secret till everyone stopped talking about it." Lucy said softly. "I'm so glad you're not mad at me." Lucy threw her arms around Levy and hugged her and Levy hugged back.

"I'm mad at you though." Levy pointed at Natsu and scowled a little. "You went and flirted with other girls even though you were into Lucy. I can't believe you. Disgusting behaviour."

"I just rejected Talia." Natsu said in defence of himself. "She thought we'd still be a thing after the party, but I didn't want to date her in the first place."

"You were hanging around with Talia even thought you knew she had a crush on you?" Lucy growled in a low tone when she looked at Natsu he could see the hurt in her eyes because he knew Lucy had been jealous of her in the past. "I can't believe you!"

Lucy smashed her hand on the table and walked out of the canteen. Natsu hit himself on the head and chased behind her with Levy trailing behind and dragging Gajeel out of the canteen lunch line and after Lucy and Natsu.

* * *

Soon enough Natsu found Lucy sitting under a tree at the very back of the campus. Coolly, Natsu sat beside her with some space between them so that she wouldn't snap. He waited a few minutes before touching her hand and waiting to have a punch thrown at him straight at his face, but nothing came. Instead, he saw Lucy looking at the ground in regret.

"We don't have to hide it anymore. We can tell everyone and I'll stop talking to girls that like me or have liked me before." Natsu reassured Lucy he looked at her to see a small smile on her face. "I can go tell everyone right now. I'll yell it out in the college canteen and yell it on a table."

"Are you being serious?" Lucy giggled. Natsu nodded and took her arm and led her back to the canteen.

He walked in and found all their friends sitting on a table looking worried. Their faces became softer when they saw Lucy and Natsu together.

"You guys should know I'm about to get up on this table and tell everyone Lucy and I are dating." Natsu said warning his friends. The girls looked shocked at Lucy, apart from Levy and the guys nodded quite proud Natsu was taking initiative. He climbed onto the table and allowed Lucy to sit down. "Excuse me! I'm Natsu Dragneel, you probably know that. I'm dating Lucy!"

The full canteen became a chorus of whoops and cheers, apart from Dan who was in the corner with his friends and watched as Jellal applauded Natsu and congratulated him along with everyone else. He got up suddenly from his seat and marched over to where Natsu and Lucy were and where they gossiped about their relationship separately with the two different groups. He pushed Jellal away from Natsu and grabbed Natsu shirt and threw him on the floor.

Natsu got up almost immediately and blocked a wild, swinging punch from Dan with his right arm and then swung his fist with all his might and punched Dan in the face so hard that it stunned him and caused him to stumble backwards. Dan shook himself out of it and charged towards Natsu like a bull and took him down to the floor and punched him in the face. Natsu brought his knee up and hit Dan in his private areas, he rolled Dan off of him and stood up.

Dan stood up and pushed away his friends that were trying to stop the fight. He looked over to Gray, Gajeel and Jellal who stood firmly in place ready to fight when needed; their faces were dark and emotionless and the girls looked away not really sure if they should tell their boyfriends to interrupt the fight. Erza looked down then up and whispered 'he deserves this' to their group of friends.

He tried to charge at Natsu again, but this time Natsu was prepared for it and waited till Dan came close enough for him to knee Dan in the stomach as hard as he could and the stop him from falling but pushing him up and away. He stepped forward and dragged his fist from down low up and into the pressure point in between the lower ribs causing Dan to become winded and fall to the ground and spit blood.

"Stay away from Lucy, or else this will get worse." Natsu spit out the blood that began to trickle and fall down the corner of his mouth. "I can't believe you'd try to fight me."

Lucy rushed over and looked at Natsu's busted lip in the corner and then the group of friends began to walk away - now everyone knew what would happen if you messed with one of them. One of the colleges richest students.


	20. Chapter 20

**So, I'm late updating - no surprise there. Think this story may end in about 15 chapters or so.**

**There's also a time skip in here - please be aware that even though it has only been a short time (about three months) in story, this is so the story can progress further and I don't have to make a sequel.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 20 - No Benefits**

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It was almost a month after Natsu confessed to a whole cafeteria that he and Lucy were dating when problems began to occur for them. Lucy had been summoned by her father to come home immediately and Igneel had told Natsu that dating Lucy would just end up badly for the both of them. Did they listen though? No, they didn't, that's why they're now sat across from each other in a grand dining room hall in Lucy's family home. Family portraits and individual portraits hung around the room in an orderly fashion and workers for the household stood at each of the five exits. If they wanted to escape now they'd just be tackled to the ground by one big security guard.

Natsu stared down at the mahogany table; he was trying to avoid intense eye contact with his own father and Lucy's; he was also trying to avoid making eye contact with Lucy as when he did that her father release a throaty growl and stared him down like he was a piece of meat to a lion. Lucy was making short, snappy eye contact with her father and Igneel with pleading eyes, but neither seemed to notice or be bothered by it as they stared at each other fiercely.

"Let's waste no time." Lucy's father, Jude, straightened himself out and cleared his throat. "Our two children dating provides no benefits for either of us. We are competition to each other, there's no way that I see this working out."

"I agree." Igneel replied sharply, glaring slightly at Jude. "However, I came here today for the sake of son, who appears to have fallen in love with the competitions daughter."

Natsu timidly looks up and speaks in a hushed tone. "We've only been dating about two months and 'love' is a big word."

"Don't speak nonsense to me, boy." Igneel said tapping his hand on Natsu's shoulder. "You fell in love with that other girl in a week, you think that this is any different from that you're mistaken. She'll just make false claims like the other one did and force you to choose between giving her money or staying with her. Obviously, you can't stay with her or give her money so you're forced to move away and avoid her existence. Similar situation to the one you're in now."

"This is in no way similar." Natsu spoke a little clearer and louder this time. "She used me; Lucy isn't."

"Similar to that of Dan, Lucy will eventually be treated badly by you." Jude spoke roughly. "From what I heard you're quite the play boy, you could get plenty of girls to love you and stay with you, even if it is only for the money."

"I never cheated nor did I even kiss any girl when I became aware of how Lucy felt about me and when I realised how I felt about her." Natsu replied sharply, he was now yelling and had a slightly angry look on his face. " I wouldn't do what Dan did to Lucy, or else I'll just be a dick like he was."

"Dad, please don't make me break up with him, he's not bad." Lucy pleaded with her father. "I promise I'll take over the business."

"Taking over the business isn't the issue." Jude sighed, he cupped his daughters face and looked back at Igneel. "I'm sure you're aware that your business partners are the parents of Sting Eucliffe? Lucy is in an arranged marriage with him, it'll turn quite sour if you were to poach the girl their son was to marry."

"It would, but I have plenty of other partners just waiting to take their place." Igneel leaned forward on the table. "There is a difference between you and I: I always have my children's best interest at heart, where as you only have you're own but delude yourself into thinking it is for her."

"It appears were in a stalemate of sorts then." Jude said begrudgingly.

"No, we're not." Igneel grabbed Natsu, forcing him to stand up. "Sting is already in an arranged marriage to another girl, not Lucy. You're grasping at straws so I see how desperate you are to keep them apart. You don't need to worry, Natsu is going away to study abroad for business starting next week. Goodbye."

"You can't be serious, dad!" Natsu struggled in his fathers grip. "Dad, stop!"

The sounds of Natsu's struggles became drowned at by Lucy's. Both of them heartbroken and not sure what to do with themselves...

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_**Seven **__**Years Later...**_

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The plane touched down in the busy heart of Magnolia. The airport was bursting to the seam with press and photographers and normal people conducting their everyday business. He walked confidently down the tunnel with his little sister and her, recently turned husband, in tow. He slipped on his shades and put a dazzling smile on his face and walked out of the tunnel into the the camera flashes and barrage of questions being hurled at them from the crowd that gathered.

He pushed his salmon hair back and smiled; lifting his hand up in the air he posed and waved at the press before continuing on his path toward the car. He stopped for a second; he looked at a book that had the words 'number 1 best seller' in bold and underlined for effect. He picked it up and handed money to his assistant to pay the shopkeeper with. He carried it in hand and waved with the book and opened the car door with the other. The door shut after Wendy and Romeo hopped in.

"It's weird of you to buy a book, Natsu." Romeo laughed in a slightly deep voice. He'd grown into a real man to take care of Wendy, just as Natsu had told him to.

"My Imperfect Lover and Him." Natsu read aloud. "By Lucy Heartfillia." His smile turned into one of great pain. He took off his shades and covered his face with his hands.

"I read that while we were abroad. Spoiler alert, she wanted to marry Him and not her Imperfect Lover, but Him just disappeared."

"Thanks, little sister." Natsu said sarcastically. "I didn't think she'd write a story on us like that."

Natsu looked out the one was glass window, watching as people posted the pictures of him on all the social media they could. They travelled all over the globe and started gathering tonnes of likes and eventually found themselves to a blonde, who was sat in her home writing draft chapters for her book while her three best friend's waited for her to finish. She pressed the save button and closed the writing document, in the background she'd left Twitter on and saw a picture of a man who'd grown to look like the most handsome person she'd ever seen.

She clicked on the picture and gazed at it; Levy, Juvia and Erza noticed her touching her face and picking at the sides of her fingers and instantly knew something had made her nervous. They moved over to the computer screen where they saw Natsu. He was a lot taller than before and he seemed to have gotten a lot stronger and looked a lot more refined than he did when he was eighteen. Levy moved beside Lucy and zoomed in on the picture to reveal that Natsu was holding Lucy's book.

"Do you think he's read it?" Levy asked intrigued.

"I'm more concerned that he hasn't contacted any of us, but he has talked to the guys almost everyday." Erza scoffed and folded her arms across her chest. "We're his friends too doesn't he know that?"

Lucy's phone rang twice, one message was from her proofreader, the other from an unknown number. 'Want to go grab some coffee? x' said the one from her proofreader; she knew that he liked her and she thought he was quite cute, but maybe today wasn't a good idea. She opened the next one and was surprised to see how long it was. 'I hope you haven't changed your number. I'll have to ask the guys for it and they'll probably kill me for trying to get in touch with you after I left and hurt you. Can we meet up for a cup of coffee to talk? I just got back into town and I completely understand if you don't want to see me.'

She replied back to both of them saying yes and grabbed her jacket off the side, she didn't know whether she was going to cry or not.

"Don't get hurt." Juvia said briefly before watching Lucy leave.


	21. Chapter 21

**I don't really have mush to say other than enjoy.**

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**Imperfect Lover - Chapter 21 - Hey, Luce**

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Natsu eyed the coffee shop door like a hawk; he wasn't sure whether he was nervous or scared and whether he just wanted to disappear from the face of the planet - but it was too late for that. He saw a blob of blonde hair bob along gently and open the door to the coffee shop; he stood trying to see her better and his breath was taken away when he saw Lucy turn and look at him with her big, brown doe eyes. He could feel himself flushing in the face and his heart rate elevate sky high - Lucy felt the same way. She slowly walked towards him and the booth in the corner where he was.

She waved a little and stood in front of him, only a few centimetre's away from him. "Hey, its been awhile."

Natsu couldn't help himself - he drove his hand to her wrist and pulled her in close to him; he held onto her tightly and buried his face into her neck. Even if they'd only known each other for a few months nothing could beat how he felt when he was next to her, holding her or talking to her. Lucy stood motionless for a moment, not sure what to do, but her instincts told her to hold on and not let go for awhile until she was sure that he was staying.

"I'm sorry." Natsu whimpered. "I should have fought back; I should have found a way to you sooner. I'm sorry."

"I should have found a way to you too." Lucy sighed into his ear, she only now realised how tall he'd become as her feet ached from standing on her tiptoes. "Could we sit? You're like way taller than me."

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to grow this much." Natsu listened to the tune of Lucy's light giggle and his heart clenched because he'd missed it too much. He slid into the booth across from Lucy and slid her favourite coffee her way. "How have you been?"

"Do you want the honest answer or the answer that I tell every?" Natsu put up one finger while sipping on his coffee. "They've made me go on dates to stop missing you and move on, but it doesn't feel right if it's not you. So I've been pretty bad. And you?"

"I haven't gone on any dates and I managed to get top of the class in business because studying reminded me of you, so thanks for that. But honestly, I've wanted to get on a plane and come down here to see you and hear your voice but my every movement was being watched." Natsu scratched the back of his head. "So dates? How many we talking about here, it's been seven years."

Lucy smiled and laughed lightly. "At least one a month."

Natsu tossed his head back and put a hand over his heart. "You wound me with your words, you could have at least lied to me." He sat forward and put his hand out on the table. "If I were to look through your phone would I see recent messages with one of your dates?"

"No, but you'd see my proofreader flirting with me and asking me to go out for coffee with him today. I said I would." Natsu placed his head on the table and then slapped himself lightly in the face.

"Get Levy to proofread for you, you don't need that guy anymore." Natsu scoffed. "I'll proofread for you."

"How many chapters of my book have you read so far?" Natsu motioned with his fingers that he'd only read two. "He reads about eight chapters a day for me and then corrects my grammar and spelling."

Natsu watched as Lucy rested her head on her cheek and then copied her while giving her a dazzling smile. "I missed you like hell, Luce." His dazzling smile dropped to a slightly smaller smile with sad eyes. "I only ever wanted to come back and be with you. You don't know how many times I've just wanted to be disowned by my dad just to come back to you. I'd rather be an outcast than not be with you - I was willing to just be in the background of your life just to watch you and be near you."

"I feel the same way, but there's nothing we can do about it now." Luce smiled sadly at Natsu. "You can be in my life, but I couldn't bare going through what we went through seven years ago again when I just got you back."

"You wouldn't go through it again." Natsu bluntly said. "I'm the CEO now, my father is ill and he said he doesn't want to run the company so it's mine now. The first thing I've done as CEO is branch out into your fathers area for business, so he either works with me or we crush him as competition. I'm hoping he'll agree to my merger offer, it benefits us both."

"Wait, what the hell are you talking about?" Lucy said sitting up straight in the booth. "You're coming after my father and his business? Are you crazy? He'll reject your offer and rather see his company drown in debt before letting you run it."

"I wouldn't be running it, he would be." Lucy tilted her head to the side. "You're father needs actors and directors for his movie business to work. I hired all the popular ones under me and the new business - these are the ones he uses. His only choice to save money is to merge with me so he gets usage of the actors and directors under a discounted price or else he can't keep his business up."

"It took me awhile to get the board of directors on my side and secure the votes need to start the business but they agreed. Now all I'm waiting for is your father's phone call. If his business goes under he has no power over you and who you marry anymore, if he merges he doesn't have a reason not to accept me." Natsu stared absentmindedly at the table before sipping his coffee and looking at Lucy. "I'm doing this for you and for me."

"You must love me like crazy even though you said it was too early to love me back then." Lucy laughed a little, but she was overwhelmed with happiness that he'd go that far for her.

"Yeah, I love you like crazy." Natsu looked at her with a determined and serious look on his face.

"We can't just go back to how we were though, a lot has changed - I've changed a lot." Lucy argued back, wanting to make sure he was serious. "You can't just act like you used to in college; once were together I don't want to be played around."

"I've changed a lot too and once were together I need your word that you won't date anyone else, because I'll kill them. I'm rich enough to hire a hit man now, you know?" Natsu joked a little but grabbed her hand. "Once your father tells me his answer then we can be together - I just need you to wait."

A man around Natsu's and Lucy's age entered the shop. He had brown hair that was slicked softly into a comb over and had a baby face with pale green eyes. He was smiling happily knowing that Lucy had agreed to meet him for coffee and was feeling like he was on a cloud. His heart fluttered at hearing her voice and beat quickly whenever he saw her. He was in love with her and wanted her to know today about how he felt. He looked around and saw her blonde hair peeking out from a booth; he looked at how her slender arm extended and then met another's hand. Wait, another person's hand, he thought to himself.

He marched over to the booth and looked at Natsu with a mean and enraged look. "Is this the proofreader you're meeting?"

Lucy nodded slightly. "Rogan this is Natsu; Natsu this is Rogan."

Natsu stood up and patted the man on the shoulder. "Nice to meet you. I have to dash now, but could you take care of my fiancee for me? Thanks."

Lucy blushed hysterically as Natsu grabbed his coffee and kissed her forehead before heading out the coffee shop as happy as he could be.


End file.
